General Dynamics Corp. (GD) reported third-quarter results in late October. Earnings per share of $1.59 topped the year-prior $1.34 and exceeded analyst estimates by 7%. Revenues jumped 4.5% to $7.1 billion on a year-over-year basis.

Company Description

General Dynamics operates in four main business segments. Aerospace designs, develops, manufacturers and services a comprehensive offering of advanced business-jet aircraft. Combat Systems is a global leader in producing, supporting and sustaining land and expeditionary combat systems for the U.S. military and its allies. Marine Systems designs, builds and supports submarines and a variety of surface ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers. The Information Systems and Technology group offers a breadth and depth of technology and service capabilities that support a wide range of government and commercial needs, including systems integration expertise; hardware and software products; and engineering, management and support services.

Read the latest Zacks Equity Research Report on

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Jeff is traveling, so we are republishing his recent interview from the Kirk Report, one of our featured sources.  The Kirk Report is an excellent investor resource, with many specific stock ideas for members.  Charles Kirk also reads very widely and provides regular links to articles we might otherwise have missed.  He came up with some excellent questions for the interview, getting Jeff to discuss many topics he has not covered on "A Dash." Here is the Kirk Report interview: It is with great pleasure to have Jeff Miller, from A Dash Of Insight, to participate in this month's Q&A. Many of you know Jeff because I've linked to many (if not the vast majority) of his blog posts. In this Q&A we'll cover a variety of topics ...

First Congress authorized $700 billion — quite a bit more than the entire Department of Defense budget — for some sort of “troubled asset relief plan (TARP).” (Nobody ever really explained it to my satisfaction. Somehow we were going to throw money at a very big problem and fix it.) Then the money flowed like rainwater to Wall Street and a bunch of banks. Then the banks and Wall Street houses continued to pay their insiders’ big salaries and bonuses.

Yard Work, Troubled Assets, Bankruptcy and Energy

I often mention that I live in Pittsburgh. Well, the truth is that I live in a leafy suburb of Pittsburgh. I grew up in the Steel City. But when I got married I moved to the suburbs to be near my wife.

Life in the Leafy Suburbs

There is a problem with living in a leafy suburb. When autumn rolls around, the leaves turn brown

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Navy Contracts are not easy to land and even harder when the competition for those contracts is fierce. Viaspace subsidiary Ionfinity pulled out all the stops and has been awarded a $786,000 Phase II contract for its proposal entitled “Miniature Electronic Sniffer for Navy Vertical Take off Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VTUAVs)” by the Navy’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. Basically, this two year contract will empower the Navy to sniff out chemical, explosive, and illegal drugs in suspect ships.

The technology behind such a sniffer has been made possible through a joint collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, General Dynamics, Sionex, and Imaginative Technologies. Viaspace’s subsidiary Ionfinity is focused specifically on developing highly innovative mass spectrometry technology that revolutionize the detection and monitoring of potential homeland security and personal safety.

The market for the security industry is estimated at $55 Billion. VIASPACE holds a 46.3% membership interest in Ionfinity,

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Editor: Our blog has recently posted about the voyage of president Medvedev to Kamchatka and his visit to an atomic submarine. In connection with this, our correspondent Grigory Pasko also has his comments. The president, it seems, is different, but the rake’s the same… Grigory Pasko, journalist I recalled the phrase of journalist Akram Murtazayev “Whoever hasn’t stepped on the same rake three times isn’t a Russian” when I read the reports about the visit by President Dmitry Medvedev to an atomic submarine on Kamchatka. The mass information media reported (I cite from the wonderful military newspaper Krasnaya zvezda [Red Star]: President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev began a working journey to Kamchatka with a visit to a base for submarines of the Pacific Ocean Fleet. On board the atomic underwater cruiser of strategic designation St. George the Victorious the Supreme Commander ...

L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL) has just received a $23 million order from the U.S. Marines and been upgraded in Zacks' most recent report.

L-3 Communications provides several defense related government agencies with various reconnaissance and intelligence systems, amongst other systems and services. The company is based out of New York, has over 64,000 employees, and carries a market cap of nearly $12.5 billion.

Steady Supply of Military Contracts

On September 11th the military contractor announced a $23.2 million order to provide the U.S. Marines with 600 video devices. The mobile video systems are designed to give soldiers real-time video up dates from unmanned patrol vehicles. The video will be fed laptop taken into the battlefield to aid in tactical decisions.

L-3 also signed a contract with the Navy to produce new wing for P-3 aircraft, for $60.6 million. This is in

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I saw this recent bit from Diane Francis: Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council is investigating claims that Moscow is illegally distributing Russian passports to Russian speaking sympathizers in the port city of Sevastopil. Ukraine leases much of this port to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. What's notable about this is that issuing bogus Russian passports to trouble-makers was exactly the same tactic, then excuse, the Russians used to move into South Ossetia and another province in Georgia. Once the separatist movement gained steam, aided by Moscow, Russian "peacekeepers" were sent in to restore the "peace" and have been taunting the government of Georgia ever since. The final result came days ago when Georgia foolishly took the bait, invaded South Ossetia, thus giving Vladimir Putin's government the reason it needed to invade Georgia. It took over the country militarily, ignored ceasefires and has ...

ManTech International Corp. (MANT) has been able to maintain its growth trajectory in spite of the challenging economic environment. This government/defense consulting company recently reported strong quarterly results, provided a bullish earnings forecast and announced two big deals with two government agencies.

ManTech International Corp. provides technology consulting services for national security programs in the United States and internationally. The company was founded in 1968, has a market cap. of $2.05 billion and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

An Industry Trend

With national security issues coming into focus over the last couple of years, companies catering to these interests have seen a sharp up tick in demand for their services. This dynamic has played out accordingly for ManTech, and was apparent when the company reported strong second-quarter results on July 30.

Second-Quarter Results

Revenue was up 33% from last year to $465 million.

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A principal theme at “A Dash” is learning how to use expertise.  While we write forcefully about what we believe, we also make clear the limitations of the expertise of our team.

Where We Have Strength

The background of our team members is in recognizing the need for experts in various fields to join together to solve problems.  My own background includes many projects of this sort.  I directed educational programs where scientists, economists, and public policy experts jointly taught seminars on complex policy issues.  I worked in government, where economists and political scientists versed in tax policy cooperated in major studies.  I have advised and helped to finance early stage companies that involved complex relationships of financing, science, engineering, and business acumen.