Defense company General Dynamics beat investors’ expectations in the first quarter, earning $2.34 per share, above estimates by about 18 cents.
Revenues, at $7.7 billion, were down by $60 million from a year earlier, but better than analysts’ expectations, despite a drop in sales of large-cabin Gulfstreams. Margins were up.
Chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic touted the company’s performance as a “strong first quarter.”
The Falls Church, Va., company, which mostly sells to the government, reported a backlog in sales of over $64 billion, thanks to interest in its Gulfstream jets and “strong demand” for defense products.
“We’re off to a good start in aerospace,” Novakovic said in an investor call.
She also claimed “extremely strong operating performance in combat systems,” predicting that the company’s combat vehicles sales will continue to grow in the years ahead.
The company has seen stronger demand from foreign countries for combat systems, including a $405 million contract in the first quarter from the Swiss government to upgrade military vehicles. Noting that General Dynamics has also received stepped-up interest from other countries in Europe and the Middle East, Novakovic remarked that “the world remains a dangerous place” and that the “Russian bear” is roaring.
