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General Dynamics (GD) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note

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General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $294.35, moving -0.19% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.16%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.09%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.3%.

Heading into today, shares of the defense contractor had gained 3.34% over the past month, lagging the Aerospace sector's gain of 3.61% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.64% in that time.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of General Dynamics in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect General Dynamics to post earnings of $3.76 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 23.68%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $12.2 billion, indicating a 15.45% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $14.52 per share and revenue of $47.96 billion, which would represent changes of +20.8% and +13.47%, 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. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.1% higher. General Dynamics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, General Dynamics currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.32. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.79, which means General Dynamics is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that GD has a PEG ratio of 1.61. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Aerospace - Defense industry stood at 1.84 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, putting it in the top 20% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained 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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