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General Dynamics (GD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) closed at $227.74, marking a +1.42% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.83%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.09%.

Coming into today, shares of the defense contractor had lost 1.35% in the past month. In that same time, the Aerospace sector lost 4.37%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.51%.

General Dynamics will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, General Dynamics is projected to report earnings of $3.17 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 3.26%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $9.95 billion, up 3.98% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.16 per share and revenue of $39.48 billion, which would represent changes of +5.28% and +2.63%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the 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 company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable 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 0.12% higher. General Dynamics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, General Dynamics is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 18.46. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.67.

It is also worth noting that GD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.81. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Aerospace - Defense was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.81 at yesterday's closing price.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 132, putting it in the bottom 48% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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