Led by its shipbuilding segment, General Dynamics (GD) last week posted solid fourth quarter results to cap off a strong fiscal year.
Net income in the quarter was flat at $1.1 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $4.17 were two cents higher than a year ago due to a lower outstanding share count, according to the earnings report. The results beat consensus estimates by five cents.
Sales increased 8% to $14.4 billion from $13.3 billion a year ago.
GD’s Marine Systems segment had an impressive quarter, with operating income up a whopping 73% and a 22% rise in sales to $4.8 billion. Work on the Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine at the Electric Boat shipbuilding division “were the real drivers of this growth,” Phebe Novakovic, GD’s chairwoman and CEO, said on an investor call.
Productivity and throughput increases across GD’s shipyards have been “demonstrable,” Danny Deep, GD’s president, said on the call. He said investments at Electric Boat the past several years have “enabled a significant increase in throughput,” highlighting that “submarine tonnage produced” was up 13% in 2025 over 2024.
Asked by one analyst how Electric Boat is progressing toward the Navy’s goal of building two Virginia-class submarines per year, Novakovic replied that both efficiency and labor retention are improving but that the supply chain is the “gating item.” Government investments in the supply chain have led to improvements but “we still have some suppliers and parts of the supply chain that are at risk,” she said, adding more focus is needed on sole-source suppliers “where they are bottlenecks.”
Novakovic said “quality still remains high” at Electric Boat.
“Our priority in the Marine group is to remain laser focused on execution and continue to accelerate production, and we are seeing good progress on that front,” Deep said.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.