General Dynamics tops profit expectations but revenue misses

General Dynamics Corp. reported third-quarter profit that rose above expectations but revenue that missed, as the aerospace and defense contractor's technologies, combat and aerospace business segments missed expectations while marine systems beat. The stock was still inactive in premarket trading. Net income edged up to $860 million, or $3.07 a share, from $834 million, or $2.90 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $2.98. Revenue grew 1.5% to $9.57 billion, but was below the FactSet consensus of $9.85 billion. Among business segments, Aerospace revenue rose 4.6% to $2.07 billion but missed the FactSet consensus of $2.14 billion; Technologies revenue fell 4.0% to $3.12 billion to miss expectations of $3.34 billion; Combat Systems revenue declined 3.1% to $1.75 billion, below expectations of $1.81 billion; and Marine Systems revenue rose 9.6% to $2.64 billion, to beat expectations of $2.58 billion. The stock has run up 37.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 21.8%.

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