LOCKHEED SEES FIRST-QUARTER GAINS.

Byline: Todd Blecher Bloomberg News

Lockheed Martin Corp. said first-quarter profit rose 6.6 percent as revenue from its electronics and information-systems division climbed more than 50 percent, a result of last year's acquisition of Loral Corp.

The world's largest aerospace company said net income rose to $290 million, or $1.49 a share, from $272 million, or $1.35, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 31 percent to $6.67 billion from $5.11 billion.

``Revenue came in much better than expected,'' said Morgan Stanley analyst Pierre Chao.

On a fully diluted basis, Lockheed's earnings of $1.34 a share beat the $1.30 average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc. Fully diluted calculations take into account the number of shares that would be added if a company's convertible securities were converted into stock.

``It was a good, solid quarter,'' Paine Webber analyst John Modzelewski said. Lockheed Martin's divisions showed ``strength across the board.''

``We reported double-digit increases in earnings per share, improved operating margins and generated strong free cash flow,'' Chairman and Chief Executive Norman Augustine said in a statement. ``We sustained momentum.''

Last week, Augustine said he'll relinquish his duties as chief executive later this year to Chief Operating Officer Vance Coffman. Augustine will remain chairman.

Results for the latest quarter include businesses acquired in April 1996 through the $9.1 billion purchase of most of Loral Corp.

Those businesses increased sales of Lockheed Martin's electronics division - which produces military radars and sensors, weapons-control systems, and components for wireless-communications systems - by 95 percent, to $1.7 billion from $891 million.

They also helped increase revenue from Lockheed Martin's information division - which provides three-dimensional graphics technology, electronic toll collection systems, and processes public-assistance payments for several states. Revenue in that division jumped 63 percent to $1.6 billion from $983 million.

Revenue from Lockheed Martin's space and missiles division, which includes its satellite and rocket products, rose 8 percent to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion, while revenue from its aeronautics division, which is responsible for the F-22, F-16, and C-130 military planes, rose 5 percent to $1.36 billion from $1.29 billion.

Lockheed Martin's order backlog as of March 31 rose to $49.6 billion from $42.6 billion a year earlier. The backlog was bolstered by the Loral acquisition and by a string of contracts the company has won during the past year.

Those include a nearly $1 billion development contract for the F-22 fighter, a $950 million contract to develop the X-33 space craft, a $500 million U.S. Air Force bomb-kit contract, and a $254 million U.S. Patent Office contract for computer upgrades.