General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) vs. Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) Financial Review

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

General Dynamics has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Axon Enterprise has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.1% of General Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Axon Enterprise shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of General Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Axon Enterprise shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for General Dynamics and Axon Enterprise, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Dynamics	1	5	12	1	2.68
Axon Enterprise	0	3	13	0	2.81

General Dynamics presently has a consensus target price of $410.89, suggesting a potential upside of 4.87%. Axon Enterprise has a consensus target price of $730.92, suggesting a potential upside of 14.87%. Given Axon Enterprise’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Axon Enterprise is more favorable than General Dynamics.

Profitability

This table compares General Dynamics and Axon Enterprise’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Dynamics	8.18%	17.43%	7.67%
Axon Enterprise	6.19%	2.84%	1.36%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares General Dynamics and Axon Enterprise”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Dynamics	$54.86 billion	1.93	$4.21 billion	$16.39	23.90
Axon Enterprise	$2.78 billion	18.60	$124.66 million	$2.41	264.03

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

Summary

General Dynamics beats Axon Enterprise on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Axon Enterprise

Axon Enterprise, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells conducted energy devices (CEDs) under the TASER brand in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software and Sensors, and TASER. The company also offers hardware and cloud-based software solutions that enable law enforcement to capture, securely store, manage, share, and analyze video and other digital evidence. Its products include axon officer safety plan; taser 10, taser7, taser X26P, taser X2, taser 7 CQ, and civilian series; cameras, such as axon body, axon flex, axon fleet, axon air, axon signal sidearm, axon signal vehicle, axon interview, and axon interview portable kit; software, including axon records, evidence, standards, commander, performance, auto-transcribe, justice, investigate, respond, and justice, my90, and redaction assistant; mobile applications, and training services, as well as hardware extended warranties; and Axon docks, cartridges, and batteries. The company sells its products through its direct sales, distribution partners, online store, and third-party resellers. Axon Enterprise, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Fusus, Inc. to expand bility to aggregate live video, data, and sensor feeds. It serves law enforcement, federal, correction, fire, EMS, campus, justice healthcare, retail, private security, and personal safety industries. The company was formerly known as TASER International, Inc. and changed its name to Axon Enterprise, Inc. in April 2017. Axon Enterprise, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.