Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Competitors

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

Is GD or HII more profitable?

General Dynamics has a net margin of 8.08% compared to Huntington Ingalls Industries' net margin of 4.76%. General Dynamics' return on equity of 17.82% beat Huntington Ingalls Industries' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Dynamics	8.08%	17.82%	7.06%
Huntington Ingalls Industries	4.76%	12.26%	4.68%

Does the media refer more to GD or HII?

In the previous week, General Dynamics had 17 more articles in the media than Huntington Ingalls Industries. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for General Dynamics and 22 mentions for Huntington Ingalls Industries. General Dynamics' average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Huntington Ingalls Industries' score of 0.80 indicating that General Dynamics is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
General Dynamics	33 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Huntington Ingalls Industries	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in GD or HII?

86.1% of General Dynamics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.5% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of General Dynamics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate GD or HII?

General Dynamics currently has a consensus price target of $290.24, suggesting a potential downside of 1.28%. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a consensus price target of $236.38, suggesting a potential downside of 6.28%. Given General Dynamics' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe General Dynamics is more favorable than Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Dynamics	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
Huntington Ingalls Industries	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.11

Which has more volatility & risk, GD or HII?

General Dynamics has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Ingalls Industries has a beta of 0.31, suggesting that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is GD or HII a better dividend stock?

General Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. General Dynamics pays out 41.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays out 38.9% 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. General Dynamics has increased its dividend for 34 consecutive years and Huntington Ingalls Industries has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Huntington Ingalls Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, GD or HII?

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
General Dynamics	$47.72B	1.65	$3.78B	$14.42	20.39
Huntington Ingalls Industries	$11.54B	0.86	$550M	$13.88	18.17

Summary

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