FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) -- General Dynamics Corp. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 17 percent, pulled down by steep costs related to a European aircraft business.
The company said the European operations continued to struggle with lower business jet volumes and delays in some narrow-body and wide-body aircraft.
The results missed Wall Street expectations, and its shares fell $1.09, or 1.5 percent, to $70.25 in premarket trading.
The Falls Church, Va. defense contractor reported that its net income fell to $603 million, or $1.68 per share, in the last three months of 2011, down from $729 million, or $1.91 per share, for the same quarter last year.
Revenue rose 6.3 percent to $9.15 billion from $8.6 billion a year ago. Aerospace revenue jumped 47 percent to $1.86 billion, but combat systems revenue fell 3.2 percent to $2.7 billion.
Analysts, on average, expected earnings of $1.99 per share on $9.31 billion in revenue, according to a FactSet poll.
The results included charges related to the company's Switzerland-based aircraft-completions business totaling $189 million, including an asset impairment charge of $11 million and $78 million in contract losses.
The company's total backlog was $57.4 billion at the end of 2011. During the fourth quarter, orders were particularly strong for combat vehicles and Gulfstream aircraft, the company said.
For the full year 2011, General Dynamics reported net income of $2.53 billion, or $6.94 per share, down from $2.62 billion, or $6.88 per share, in 2010. Revenue edged up to $32.68 billion from $32.47 billion.
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