CLAIM #25541 · GD (GD) · 2024Q3 earnings call · Oct 23, 2024 · due Dec 31, 2024
“For the fourth quarter, we are expecting free cash flow to again be greater than 100% of net income, but we now expect the full year to fall short of our 100% conversion target as G700 deliveries pushed into 2025.”
Kimberly Kuryea · CFO
In context
“larly impressive with the continued strong revenue growth in the quarter. Combat Systems and Technologies led the way with book-to-bill of 1.5 times and 1.3 times, respectively. This order activity led to our backlog increasing to $92.6 billion at the end of the quarter. Our total estimated contract value, which includes options and IDIQ contracts, ended the quarter at a record level of $137.6 billion. Moving to our cash performance, this was another good story in the quarter. Cash flow improved as anticipated over the prior two quarters. We produced $1.4 billion of operating cash flow. All segments contributed to the results with particularly strong cash generation in technologies. Including capital expenditures, our free cash flow was $1.2 billion for the quarter, or 131% of net income. For the fourth quarter, we are expecting free cash flow to again be greater than 100% of net income, but we now expect the full year to fall short of our 100% conversion target as G700 deliveries pushed into 2025. As a reminder, total free cash flow generation between 2021 and 2023 was quite strong with a three-year conversion rate of 107%. Looking at capital deployment, capital expenditures were $201 million in the quarter or 1.7% of sales. We're still targeting to be around 2% of sales for the full year given the commitments that remain. We paid $390 million in dividends and repurchased a little over 150,000 shares of stock for $44 million during the quarter. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of over $2.1 billion. That brings us to a net debt position of $7.2 billion, down over $700 million from last quarter. As a reminder, we have an additional $500 million of fixed rate notes maturing in the fourth quarter that we plan to repay with cash on hand. Net interest expense in the quarter was $”
Verify independently
SEC filings for GD ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2024Q3 earnings call.