BofA Downgrades This Defense Contractor, Cuts Price Target By ~15% - Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)

BofA analyst Ronald Epstein downgraded Lockheed Martin Corp LMT to Neutral from Buy and lowered the price target to $375 (an upside of 13%), from $440, after the company reported Q3 results and gave a longer-term outlook for sales growth to decline about $1 billion year-over-year in 2022.
Epstein noted while growth is presumed to grow steadily thereafter, "this was not well received as the story does not fit the broader narrative," with defense budgets not declining.
While introducing a shareholder-friendly cash deployment strategy with new share buyback plans, Epstein added that this shows "a fairly-quick pivot" in strategy away from the initial focus on inorganic growth via M&A since the current management team took the reins.
Price Action: LMT shares are trading higher by 0.33% at $333.41 on the last check Monday.