Lockheed Martin beats profit estimate, raises 2018 forecast

April 24 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's No.1 weapons supplier, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecast, driven by higher sales of its F-35 combat jets.

Shares of the company rose 1.4 percent to $363.7 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Revenue from the company's aeronautics business, which makes the F-35 jet, rose 6.7 percent to $4.4 billion. The business accounted for about 38 percent of its total revenue in the quarter.

The F-35 jet is central to the company's growth and already delivers about a quarter of its sales.

The company raised its 2018 net sales forecast to a range of $50.35 billion to $51.85 billion from a range of $50 billion to $51.50 billion.

Full-year profit is now expected to rise between $15.80 and $16.10 per share, compared with its earlier estimate of $15.20 to $15.50 per share.

Net income rose to $1.16 billion, or $4.02 per share, in the first quarter ended March 25 from $789 million, or $2.69 per share, a year earlier.

Net sales rose to $11.64 billion from $11.21 billion.

Analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $3.40 per shares and revenue of $11.6 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Up to Monday's close, Lockheed's shares had risen 31.3 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 13.7 percent rise in the S&P 500 index.

(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)