American Airlines or Lockheed Martin: Wall Street Expects One to Soar on Earnings, One to Stumble

2 months ago 41

Trey Thoelcke

Wed, July 22, 2026 astatine 6:10 AM CDT 5 min read

Quick Read

Lockheed Martin beats American Airlines crossed earnings, expert consensus, and bushed odds, with EPS guidance ranging from $29 to $30 compared to AAL's loss-to-slim-profit range.
AAL carries $35 cardinal successful debt, antagonistic equity, and nary dividend, making it a fuel-cycle stake alternatively than a status holding.
Lockheed Martin's 23 consecutive dividend increases, $9.1 cardinal buyback, and $194 cardinal backlog springiness retirement-focused investors 3 durable reasons to favour LMT.
Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and Lockheed Martin didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Both American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) study Q2 2026 results earlier the unfastened connected Thursday, July 23, 2026. Retirement-focused investors look 1 plain question: which 1 deserves the portfolio slot close now? One is simply a $10.1 cardinal hose inactive climbing retired of losses, portion the different is simply a defence premier with a grounds backlog and 23 consecutive years of dividend increases. Here is what the information says heading into the same-session double-header.

A subject combatant pitchy and a commercialized airliner connected a runway astatine sunset with rising greenish banal marketplace graphs overlaid connected the image.

Dimension 1: Earnings Track Record and Predictability

Lockheed Martin's astir caller 4th delivered diluted EPS of $6.44, a miss of 3.9% versus the $6.70 estimate, connected gross of $18.02 cardinal (+0.32% twelvemonth implicit year). That followed FY 2025 diluted EPS of $21.49 connected gross of $75.05 cardinal (+5.64%), with escaped currency travel of $6.91 cardinal (+30.66%). Management reaffirmed FY 2026 diluted EPS guidance of $29.35 to $30.25 and escaped currency travel of $6.5 cardinal to $6.8 billion.

American Airlines topped expectations past quarter: Q1 2026 adjusted EPS of −$0.40 versus a −$0.46 estimation (+13.04%) connected grounds gross of $13.91 cardinal (+10.84% twelvemonth implicit year). But the full-year representation is acold wider: FY 2026 adjusted EPS guidance runs from −$0.40 to $1.10, with much than $4 cardinal successful incremental substance disbursal weighing connected results. FY 2025 delivered adjusted EPS of conscionable $0.36 and escaped currency travel of −$83 million.

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Winner: Lockheed Martin. A $29 to $30 EPS set paired with astir 25% conception operating nett maturation beats a scope that spans a nonaccomplishment to a slim profit.

Dimension 2: Analyst Consensus, Price Target, and Implied Upside

At $507.09, Lockheed Martin trades good beneath the statement expert people of $606.68, but analysts person a statement Hold rating. The trailing P/E is 25, and applied to the FY 2026 EPS midpoint, the guardant aggregate lands successful the precocious teens. That is simply a tenable terms to wage for defense-grade currency flow.

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