Lockheed Martin
Q4 2022 Earnings Call
Jan 24, 2023, 11:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Lockheed Martin fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings results conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Maria Ricciardone Lee, vice president of investor relations. Please go ahead.
Maria Lee -- Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, John, and good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to our fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings conference call. Joining me today on the call are Jim Taiclet, our chairman, president, and chief executive officer; and Jay Malave, our chief financial officer. Statements made in today's call that are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws.
Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Please see today's press release and our SEC filings for a description of some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. We have posted charts on our website today that we plan to address during the call to supplement our comments. These charts also include information regarding non-GAAP measures that may be used in today's call.
Please access our website at www.lockheedmartin.com, and click on the investor relations link to view and follow the charts. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jim.
Jim Taiclet -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Maria, and good morning, everyone. Hope you've all had a good start to the new year. And I thank you for joining us on our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call as we review our results, key business area accomplishments, and our outlook for 2023. I'd like to begin with a few highlights from the quarter and from the year, and then Jay will review the financials in a more detailed manner.
Lockheed Martin had a strong close to 2022. All of our business areas met or exceeded our prior expectations, resulting in a 2022 full year sales of $66 billion, segment operating profit of $7.2 billion, and earnings per share of $21.66. Our free cash flow for the year of $6.1 billion also came in above our prior expectation, while backlog for the year increased to $150 billion, driven by all-time record orders for Lockheed Martin. Our financial results included more than $1.7 billion of independent research and development investments, or IRAD, a new high watermark for the company.