2023-04-30 08:50:00 ET
It's been a pretty good season for earnings for America's biggest defense contractors so far, with Lockheed Martin , Northrop Grumman , Raytheon , and General Electric all queuing up to report "earnings beats" in quick succession -- and only Boeing , so far, sounding a sour note. On Wednesday, General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) was the latest defense heavyweight to wow Wall Street with better-than-expected profits.
And yet, there's one thing about General Dynamics' earnings that should perhaps give investors pause.
Reporting for its first fiscal quarter 2023, General Dynamics waltzed right past Wall Street's predicted $9.3 billion in sales to report a $9.9 billion quarter -- up 5% from last year's Q1. Per share profits beat expectations by a nickel, coming in at $2.64 per share. Free cash flow for the quarter was $1.3 billion -- nearly twice the company's $730 million net profit.
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1 Number That Should Worry General Dynamics Shareholders