Rendering of a Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine US Navy
Naval Submersibles

Submarine boom powers General Dynamics to raise 2026 guidance

Reuters

General Dynamics raised its 2026 revenue and profit forecasts on Friday after reporting stronger-than-expected third-quarter results, helped by robust demand for submarine programmes.

Rising military spending amid ongoing wars helped drive orders across the company's businesses.

General Dynamics booked nearly $99 billion in new orders during the quarter, including awards for five additional Columbia-class submarines and nine Virginia-class submarines, lifting backlog to a record $220.3 billion, more than double the levels seen a year earlier.

CEO Phebe Novakovic said during an earnings call on Friday that the company was seeing "significantly increased earned hours" at its shipyards, as prolonged supply-chain and labour bottlenecks ease.

Shares of the company were up one per cent.

The defence contractor forecast 2026 earnings-per-share to range between $17.20 and $17.30, up from its previous forecast of $16.80 to $16.90.

It expects annual revenue of $56.5 billion to $56.8 billion, up from about $55.7 billion previously.

The company's third-quarter profit came in at $4.49 per share, above analysts' average estimate of $4.13, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Its revenue rose nearly 13 per cent from a year ago to $14.57 billion, topping estimates of $13.73 billion.

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shinjini Ganguli)