General Dynamics Corp

General Dynamics kicked off 2025 with a commanding first quarter, posting earnings per share of $3.66 and revenue of $12.22 billion, beating Wall Street's consensus EPS estimate of $3.46 by 5.72% and topping revenue expectations by 2.34% as sales climbed 13.9% year over year. The standout driver was a resurgent Aerospace segment, where revenue surged 45.2% to $3.03 billion as manufacturing efficiencies from ramping production on new Gulfstream aircraft models, including the freshly certified G800, pushed operating earnings up 69.4% and expanded segment margins by 210 basis points to 14.3%; Gulfstream delivered 36 aircraft in the quarter, up sharply from 24 in the year-ago period. Defense operations added further ballast, with Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies each posting revenue growth and stable-to-improving margins. Net earnings reached $994 million, a 24.4% increase from a year earlier, while the company's total backlog of $88.66 billion and aggressive capital returns, including $600 million in share repurchases and a 5.6% dividend increase, underscored broad operational confidence.