General Dynamics profit beats on higher aircraft sales

(Adds details, shares)

Oct 28 (Reuters) - General Dynamics Corp, which makes ships, tanks and business jets, reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, partly helped by higher aircraft sales.

The company's share were up 1.4 percent at $150.50 in premarket trading on Wednesday.

General Dynamics said it delivered 31 "outfitted" large-cabin aircraft in the third quarter, six more than a year earlier, while deliveries of mid-cabin jets doubled to 12.

An aircraft's outfittings include exterior painting and installation of customer-selected interiors.

The company's net income from continuing operations rose to $733 million, or $2.28 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 28, from $694 million, or $2.05 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue increased 3.1 percent to $7.99 billion.

Revenue from General Dynamics' aerospace business, its biggest, rose 2.4 percent. Only the marine systems business, the third-biggest among the company's four units, posted higher revenue growth, of 14.7 percent.

Revenue from the combat systems business fell 3.6 percent and revenue from the information systems and technology business, General Dynamics' second-biggest, declined 1.2 percent.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $2.13 per share, on revenue of $7.84 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Up to Tuesday's close of $148.40, the company's stock had risen about 8 percent this year, compared with an increase of about 4 percent in the Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense index .

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Savio D'Souza)