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General Dynamics (GD) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) closed at $216.37 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.49% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.39% gain on the day.

Heading into today, shares of the defense contractor had lost 0.93% over the past month, lagging the Aerospace sector's gain of 0.92% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.16% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from General Dynamics as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 26, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.59, down 5.82% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $9.41 billion, up 2.38% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.64 per share and revenue of $41.34 billion, which would represent changes of +3.69% and +4.92%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for General Dynamics. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.2% lower. General Dynamics is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that General Dynamics has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.04 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.49, which means General Dynamics is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that GD has a PEG ratio of 1.9. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Aerospace - Defense stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.9 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, putting it in the bottom 35% 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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