F-22: Dark Clouds on the Horizon

The sky keeps getting darker and darker for Lockheed Martin Corporation's (LMT) F-22 fighter. The vote due Wednesday on the F-22 fighter program, however, was temporarily postponed with federal hate-crime law. This comes barely a couple of weeks after the lifeline was extended to the fighters by the House of Representatives. An impending blood bath in the Senate, along with the White House Veto threat, looms large.

The respite for the fighters came from both the $550.4 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 2010 posited by the House, as well as from the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has specifically approved $1.75 billion for 7 more F-22 fighters.

The knight in shining armor for the F-22 program is Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, who has a vested interest since the F-22 plant is located in his home state of Georgia. Also, with the F-22s fortune tied to 25,000 direct and 9,000 indirect workers spread over more than 40 states, we wonder if the Obama administration will risk the hostility that an opposition will involve. However, the $350 million-apiece F-22, already numbering 187 in the country, is expected to tip the scales in favor of the F-22 bashers.

We maintain our BUY rating on LMT.

Read the full analyst report on LMT