General Dynamics (GD) Rises Higher Than Market: Key Facts

General Dynamics (GD) closed the most recent trading day at $354.24, moving +1.77% from the previous trading session. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.79%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.26%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.52%.

The defense contractor's shares have seen an increase of 2.62% over the last month, surpassing the Aerospace sector's loss of 0.43% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.82%.

The upcoming earnings release of General Dynamics will be of great interest to investors. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $3.93, indicating a 5.08% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $13.43 billion, up 2.97% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $16.59 per share and a revenue of $55 billion, indicating changes of +7.31% and +4.65%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for General Dynamics. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% higher. At present, General Dynamics boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, General Dynamics is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.98. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.23, so one might conclude that General Dynamics is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can additionally observe that GD currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.16. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Aerospace - Defense industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.5.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, which puts it in the top 44% of all 250+ industries.

Story Continues

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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General Dynamics Corporation (GD) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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