Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Competitors

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of HII or GD?

90.5% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of General Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of General Dynamics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, HII or GD?

Huntington Ingalls Industries has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Dynamics has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, HII or GD?

General Dynamics has higher revenue and earnings than Huntington Ingalls Industries. Huntington Ingalls Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than General Dynamics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Ingalls Industries	$11.54B	0.92	$550M	$13.36	20.19
General Dynamics	$50.27B	1.73	$3.78B	$14.90	21.64

Is HII or GD a better dividend stock?

Huntington Ingalls Industries pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. General Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. General Dynamics pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Huntington Ingalls Industries has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and General Dynamics has raised its dividend for 34 consecutive years.

Is HII or GD more profitable?

General Dynamics has a net margin of 8.13% compared to Huntington Ingalls Industries' net margin of 4.54%. General Dynamics' return on equity of 17.99% beat Huntington Ingalls Industries' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Ingalls Industries	4.54%	11.34%	4.43%
General Dynamics	8.13%	17.99%	7.21%

Does the media prefer HII or GD?

In the previous week, General Dynamics had 19 more articles in the media than Huntington Ingalls Industries. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for General Dynamics and 17 mentions for Huntington Ingalls Industries. General Dynamics' average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Huntington Ingalls Industries' score of 1.30 indicating that General Dynamics is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Huntington Ingalls Industries	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
General Dynamics	26 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend HII or GD?

Huntington Ingalls Industries presently has a consensus price target of $267.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.01%. General Dynamics has a consensus price target of $315.78, suggesting a potential downside of 2.05%. Given Huntington Ingalls Industries' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Huntington Ingalls Industries is more favorable than General Dynamics.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Ingalls Industries	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
General Dynamics	1 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36

Summary

General Dynamics beats Huntington Ingalls Industries on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.