Nokia’s defense deal is giving the stock a jolt

Why Nokia is getting a little swagger back

Nokia stock is higher this morning, and the spark seems to be its newly announced partnership with Lockheed Martin. The two are teaming up on secure communications for U.S. and allied defense forces, with plans that include modular 5G for military vehicles plus joint work in 6G, AI, and wireless edge tech.

Not just another telecom story

This matters because Nokia is trying to prove it’s more than a legacy network vendor. A defense-focused partnership gives the company a higher-profile use case, and that can help investors picture a growth path that isn’t totally dependent on the usual telecom upgrade cycle.

At the same time, the stock isn’t exactly cheap or sleepy. Nokia recently posted $5.26 billion in net sales, which was up 4% year over year but still short of Wall Street’s $5.40 billion target. EPS landed at 6 cents, also below expectations, even if that was still a big step up from a year ago.

The chart crowd is already having feelings

On the technical side, Nokia has been on a monster run, with the stock up 145% over the past 12 months and trading well above its key moving averages. But the RSI sitting above 77 says the tape is pretty stretched, so yes, the momentum is strong — but it’s also the kind of setup that can make even a good stock feel a little dramatic.

Big picture: the Lockheed deal gives Nokia a fresher growth narrative, and that’s often enough to wake up a stock that investors have been side-eyeing for years.