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General Dynamics rakes in contracts

By Tom Ramstack
September 25, 2007

Shares of General Dynamics Corp. are rumbling forward this year as the maker of tanks and ships for the military has won a string of defense contracts.

In just the past two weeks the Falls Church defense giant landed contracts worth nearly $78 million, most recently a $10.5 million award from the Coast Guard, announced yesterday, to provide technical support and program management for the next four years.

The win follows other defense contracts for $24 million this week and $43 million last week.

General Dynamics' stock, GD on the New York Stock Exchange, is up about 11 percent since the first of this year, compared with 7 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

"We see more of the same for the foreseeable future," said Paul H. Nisbet, an industry analyst for the financial firm JSA Research.

The company's stock closed yesterday at $81.74 a share, down $1.22, or about 1.5 percent, from Friday's close.

General Dynamics employs about 82,900 people worldwide and projected 2007 revenue of more than $27 billion. Three of the company's four business units focus on areas including aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, arms and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and technology.

Its private-sector unit focuses on business jets, such as the Gulfstream, and on technology.

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