Comparing General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) & Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE)

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Virgin Galactic and General Dynamics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virgin Galactic	1	2	1	0	2.00
General Dynamics	1	10	12	1	2.54

Virgin Galactic presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.06%. General Dynamics has a consensus target price of $350.89, indicating a potential upside of 1.80%. Given Virgin Galactic’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Virgin Galactic is more favorable than General Dynamics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

46.6% of Virgin Galactic shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of General Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Virgin Galactic shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of General Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Virgin Galactic has a beta of 2.27, meaning that its stock price is 127% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Dynamics has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Virgin Galactic and General Dynamics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virgin Galactic	-17,828.03%	-98.94%	-32.03%
General Dynamics	8.18%	18.27%	7.43%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Virgin Galactic and General Dynamics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virgin Galactic	$7.04 million	31.21	-$346.74 million	($9.04)	-0.42
General Dynamics	$47.72 billion	1.95	$3.78 billion	$15.43	22.34

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

Summary

General Dynamics beats Virgin Galactic on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc., an aerospace and space travel company, focuses on the development, manufacture, and operation of spaceships and related technologies. The company engages in the design and development, manufacturing, ground and flight testing, spaceflight operation, and post-flight maintenance of spaceflight systems for private individuals, researchers, and government agencies. Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Tustin, California.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services. The Marine Systems segment designs and builds nuclear-powered submarines, surface combatants, and auxiliary ships for the United States Navy and Jones Act ships for commercial customers, as well as builds crude oil and product tankers, and container and cargo ships; provides maintenance, modernization, and lifecycle support services for navy ships; offers and program management, planning, engineering, and design support services for submarine construction programs. The Combat Systems segment manufactures land combat solutions, such as wheeled and tracked combat vehicles, Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, piranha vehicles, weapons systems, munitions, mobile bridge systems with payloads, tactical vehicles, main battle tanks, armored vehicles, and armaments; and offers modernization programs, engineering, support, and sustainment services. The Technologies segment provides information technology solutions and mission support services; mobile communication, computers, and command-and-control mission systems; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions to military, intelligence, and federal civilian customers; cloud computing, artificial intelligence; machine learning; big data analytics; development, security, and operations; and unmanned undersea vehicle manufacturing and assembly services. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.