Lockheed estimated 2020 cash flow of $7.2 billion, lower than its 2019 year-end estimate of $7.6 billion, which disappointed investors and sent the stock down about 2.9 percent in premarket trading.
Lockheed raised its profit estimate for 2019 by 1.9 percent to $21.55 per share from $21.15, the high point of a previous guidance, amid an improved performance in its aeronautics business.
The Bethesda, Maryland-based company said 2020 sales would increase 5 percent to $62 billion from the current year-end 2019 estimate of $59.1 billion.
Business unit profit margins in 2020 were estimated to be between a range of 10.5 percent and 10.8 percent, lower than the 11.2 percent margin so far this year.
Turkey had agreed to buy 100 stealthy F-35 jets, Lockheed's biggest program, but the Pentagon removed the NATO ally from the program and the jet's supply chain.
To be sure, other countries have expressed an interest in buying the F-35 and in September, the US State Department approved a proposed sale of 32 F-35 fighter jets worth as much as $6.5 billion to Poland.
The Pentagon has said the US is spending between $500 million and $600 million in non-recurring engineering in order to shift the supply chain away from Turkey.
There were some operating segment wins for Lockheed during the quarter.
Lockheed was awarded a NASA contract worth up to $4.6 billion to build Orion astronaut capsules to help NASA build a sustainable presence on the moon. Though sales at the space unit were up 5 percent, the 11.5 percent profit margin at the space unit was unchanged from last year.
Lockheed's net income rose to $1.61 billion, or $5.66 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 29, from $1.47 billion, or $5.14 per share, a year earlier.
Net sales rose to $15.17 billion from $14.32 billion. The company delivered 28 F-35 combat jets in the quarter, compared with 20 a year earlier.
During the second quarter, Lockheed delivered 29 F-35s. So far this year, the company has delivered 83 of the jets, out of a total expected for the year of 131. Lockheed's income tax rate was 9.7 percent in the third quarter, compared to 6.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018.