Defense Spending Booms -- Underwater and in Britain
Did you know other countries also have defense stocks, and that you can invest in them?
It's been a rough couple of weeks for U.S. defense contractors, in the military shipbuilding space in particular.
On Jan. 29, General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) beat earnings forecasts (which had been recently lowered) with some help from its Gulfstream aircraft division, but disappointed investors by reporting weak margins in in its marine systems segment (General Dynamics' biggest division by revenue, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence).
One week later, it was Huntington Ingalls Industries' (NYSE: HII) turn to disappoint. A specialist in military shipbuilding, HII reported that both its sales and its earnings were less than Wall Street had hoped for. And operating profits at both the company's shipbuilding units (Ingalls and Newport News) declined year over year.
