Defense stocks: No longer a sure thing

Updated

For most of the Bush era, defense stocks seemed pretty close to a sure thing. Those days are over and are not coming back any time soon, according to one defense analyst.

The Obama administration is paring back spending on complicated weapons systems such as the Lockheed Martin Co. (LMT) F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter programs, which helped push shares of the number one defense contractor up by nearly 80 percent over the past five years. Shares of the Bethesda, Maryland-based company fell this year as Wall Street soured on the sector. Lockheed is hardly alone.

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