General Dynamics' Unit Wins $7.7M Deal From The U.S. Navy

General Dynamics Corp.’s (NYSE:GD) business unit, Electric Boat Corp., secured a contract worth $7.7 million from the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Groton, CT.

Per the contract Electric Boat will be responsible for detail designing, prototype manufacturing and testing of the Columbia main thrust bearing/vibration reducer system for the Columbia-class submarine program, formerly known as the Ohio Replacement program. The work will be carried out at the company’s Groton, CT, facility and is expected to be completed by Jun 2021.

Columbia-Class Submarines

The U.S. Navy designed the Columbia-class submarine with the aim to replace its existing 14 Trident-armed Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. Under the Navy’s Submarine Unified Build Strategy (SUBS), the Columbia-class submarines will be jointly constructed by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.’s (HII) Newport New division. Per the U.S. Navy’s request, General Dynamics continues to be the prime contractor for designing and building the Columbia-class boats.

Why General Dynamics?

As one of the two contractors in the world with the capacity to build nuclear-powered submarines, General Dynamics enjoys a dominant position as a Navy contractor.

The U.S. Navy has kept Columbia-class submarine program among top priority list. As a result, huge budget has been allotted to the program. General Dynamics being the prime navy contractor, is expected to win a major portion of contracts from the nuclear-powered submarine industry.

Defense Industry’s Scenario

Defense industry as a whole got a good boost when President Trump proposed a 10% hike in the 2018 Defense budget. Since then the industry has witnessed regular orders being awarded by different verticals of the U.S. defense.

Earlier this month, Military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:HII) unit, Newport News, has clinched a $9.7 million modification contract to support the advance planning of the refueling complex overhaul of USS George Washington (CVN73). Work for this deal will be over by Aug 2017. (Read more: Huntington Ingalls Wins Navy Deal for USS George Washington)

Other defense giants such as Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) have also been on the receiving end of huge contracts from the U.S. military.

Price Movement

Shares of General Dynamics have rallied 42.7% in the last one year, outperforming the Zacks categorized Aerospace-Defense industry’s gain of 27.6%.

This could be because General Dynamics consistently maintains a strategic alliance with the U.S. Department of Defense, which allows it to enjoy a steady flow of contracts.

Zacks Rank

General Dynamics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies

It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7%, and +90.2% respectively.

And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>>