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Luke Kawa

BofA downgrades Lockheed Martin, slashes price target by 30% after it lost Air Force deal

The Air Force’s decision to pick Boeing over Lockheed Martin for its next program of jets caps a rough month for the defense giant that has Bank of America analysts led by Ronald Epstein borrowing a line from “Office Space”: what would you say you do here?

“Given recent US geopolitical re-posturing (tariffs, reducing support for NATO and sovereignty threats targeted at Canada and Greenland), the F-35 international partners are naturally concerned about their reliance on the program and rethinking their commitments,” he wrote. “This begs the question as to what LMT’s future is as a Prime Contractor in a 6th gen fighter world if they are not leading the development of any of the manned 6th gen program.”

The stock cratered after this decision, which was announced on Friday.

Epstein downgraded the company to “neutral” from “buy” and cut his price target by almost 30% to $485. Shares are currently trading around $434.

The analyst said he, and most of the industry, expected Lockheed Martin to win this deal.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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