Head-To-Head Review: Vertical Aerospace (NYSE:EVTL) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)

Vertical Aerospace (NYSE:EVTL) and General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.2% of Vertical Aerospace shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of General Dynamics shares are held by institutional investors. 74.8% of Vertical Aerospace shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of General Dynamics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Vertical Aerospace has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Dynamics has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vertical Aerospace 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
Vertical Aerospace	N/A	N/A	-$998.35 million	N/A	N/A
General Dynamics	$47.72 billion	1.77	$3.78 billion	$14.90	21.10

General Dynamics has higher revenue and earnings than Vertical Aerospace.

Profitability

This table compares Vertical Aerospace and General Dynamics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vertical Aerospace	N/A	N/A	N/A
General Dynamics	8.13%	17.99%	7.21%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Vertical Aerospace and General Dynamics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vertical Aerospace	1	1	5	0	2.57
General Dynamics	1	12	9	0	2.36

Vertical Aerospace currently has a consensus price target of $10.83, indicating a potential upside of 65.07%. General Dynamics has a consensus price target of $315.78, indicating a potential upside of 0.42%. Given Vertical Aerospace’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vertical Aerospace is more favorable than General Dynamics.

Summary

General Dynamics beats Vertical Aerospace on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace Ltd., an aerospace and technology company, engages in designing, manufacturing, and selling zero operating emission electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for use in the advanced air mobility in the United Kingdom. It offers VX4, an eVTOL aircraft. Vertical Aerospace Ltd. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Bristol, the United Kingdom.

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.