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GD · General Dynamics Corp

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$395.78 +2.82 (+0.72%) At close · Aug 14
Market Cap
$107.03B
Shares
270.43M
All earnings calls

Earnings call · FY2026 Q1

General Dynamics Corp Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

General Dynamics Corp Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Concluded Apr 29, 2026 Audio replay
Apr 29, 2026 43:40 75 turns
Period
FY2026 Q1
Runtime
43:40
Sources
4 artifacts

Executive readout · one minute

What matters this quarter

General Dynamics reported Q1 2026 revenue of $13.5 billion (+10.3% year-over-year) and diluted EPS of $4.10 (+12%), beating consensus by $0.43, with operating cash flow of $2.2 billion, $26.6 billion in orders (2-to-1 book-to-bill), and total backlog rising 48% to $130.8 billion.

Quarterly financial results 42 Aerospace / Gulfstream performance 31 Marine Systems growth 29 Backlog and orders 19 Combat Systems and budget priorities 15 Cash flow and capital allocation 9

Management tone

Confident

Net tone +78 · low hedging

Grounding quotes
  • “this was a very powerful quarter in all respects”
  • “We beat consensus by $0.43 in the quarter on more revenue and better operating margins than the sell side expected”
  • “an impressive 48% increase over last year and 11% higher than just a quarter ago”
  • “The aerospace team had a special quarter operationally”

Forward guidance

2 guided metrics

Management's latest ranges and targets are included below.

Research coverage

4 live sources

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Revenue $13.48B +10.3% YoY
Net income $1.12B +13.2% YoY

Research materials

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Key takeaways

What improved, and what deserves a closer read.

Constructive signals

  • Revenue grew 10.3% to $13.5B with growth across all four segments, and EPS beat consensus by $0.43
  • Operating cash flow of $2.2B (192% of net earnings) with free cash flow of ~$2B and 174% cash conversion
  • Total backlog grew 48% year-over-year to $130.8B with total estimated contract value of $188.4B, both records
  • Aerospace delivered 38 aircraft, the most in any Q1 in Gulfstream history, with operating margin up 70 bps; G800 gross margins already better than the G650 it replaced
  • Marine Systems operating earnings rose 26.4% on throughput gains across all shipyards, and full-year EPS guidance was raised roughly 2%
  • Combat Systems revenue up ~5% and earnings up 6.5% with margins up 20 bps, supported by strong trailing 12-month 2.1x book-to-bill

Risks & pressure points

  • Aerospace order flow slowed at quarter-end due to Middle East conflict, with cautious customer concern noted in that region
  • Combat Systems Q1 book-to-bill was only 0.9:1 and Stryker production rates are down versus historical highs
  • CEO Phebe Novakovic was absent due to a family illness
  • Share repurchases were limited to dilution cover ($200M), with management citing caution on buybacks in the current environment
  • Q1 includes only modest tariff recovery, and management has not assumed materially different tariff impacts going forward

Key moments

Jump directly to management's words in the synchronized transcript.

“We received over $26 billion of orders achieving an overall book-to-bill ratio of 2:1 even as revenue grew by over 10% from the year-ago quarter. The robust demand across our portfolio resulted in total backlog of $131 billion, an impressive 48% increase over last year and 11% higher than just a quarter ago.” Kimberly Kuryea, CFO

Guidance from the call

Stated verbally and extracted from the transcript.

Metric Guided
Capital expenditures
full year
3.5% – 4%
Free cash flow conversion rate
full year
100%

Quarter detail

How the reported period landed and where the business moved.

Revenue · segments

Marine Systems$4.34B +21% YoY
Technologies$3.58B +4.2% YoY
Aerospace$3.28B +8.4% YoY
Combat Systems$2.28B +4.9% YoY

Capital returned

Buybacks
$217.00M
Shares repurchased
600,000
Dividend / share
$1.59
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