11:27 AM EST, 01/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) on Thursday laid out a 2026 outlook that exceeded Wall Street's estimates at midpoint, while the defense contractor announced a deal with the US Department of War to boost the production of certain missile interceptors.

For the current year, the company expects per-share earnings of $29.35 to $30.25 on sales between $77.50 billion and $80 billion. Analysts in a FactSet poll are looking for GAAP EPS of $29.49 on revenue of $77.98 billion.

Last year, EPS came in at $21.49 and sales totaled $75.05 billion.

"(The year) 2025 marked unprecedented demand for Lockheed Martin's ( LMT ) industry leading defense technologies," Chief Executive Jim Taiclet told analysts during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "We finished the year with record high backlog of $194 billion."

The stock was up 5.5% in Thursday trade, and has surged about 30% since the start of the year.

Lockheed announced a seven-year framework with the US Department of War to more than quadruple the production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors to 400 per year. THAAD is a defense system against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.

An initial contract award on the THAAD framework is expected in the final fiscal year 2026 congressional appropriations and other sources of funding, the company said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Lockheed struck an agreement with the department to boost the production of Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile interceptors.

Lockheed's sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $20.32 billion from $18.62 billion a year earlier. The Street expected $19.86 billion. Its EPS jumped to $5.80 from $2.22 a year earlier, while analysts projected $5.82 on a GAAP basis.

Revenue in the aeronautics segment grew 6% to $8.52 billion amid higher F-35 volume. The missiles and fire control business delivered an 18% increase in revenue to $4.02 billion, while the space division's sales increased 8% to $3.16 billion. Rotary and mission systems revenue also grew 8%.

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