October 26 Market Close: GovCon Index Gets Northrop & Boeing Lift Against Mixed US Stock Trade

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index traded higher against mixed activity in U.S. stock markets Wednesday for a second consecutive session on large contributions from Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) after both aerospace-defense companies boosted their full-year outlooks.

GovCon Index advancers edged laggers and nine of its S&P 500 companies gained as the latter U.S. stock bellwether closed narrowly down on declines in Apple after disappointing quarterly sales figures and real estate shares as investors also eyed a fall in crude oil prices.

GCI-S&P companies Boeing and Northrop posted third quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s expectation on earnings and revenue along with guidance increases a day after Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) topped analyst estimates and said it expects sales to jump 7 percent next year.

Northrop hit a 52-week high during Wednesday’s trading session as did ICF (Nasdaq: ICFI), which closed fifth-lowest for GCI net performers.

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) closed second-lowest for GovCon Index net performers after investors took note of lower Gulfstream business jet deliveries during the third quarter that drove an 8.26-percent overall revenue decline from the prior year period.

Third quarter revenue at General Dynamics fell below analyst forecasts and earnings per share topped Wall Street’s outlook.

Key volume totals for GovCon Index stocks that released third quarter results are as follows:

• Boeing: 13.27 million shares traded at four-fold over the three-month average
• General Dynamics: 2.78 million shares traded to double the three-month average
• Northrop Grumman: 2.46 million shares traded at three-fold over the three-month average

Other GCI- and S&P-listed defense contractors Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) state third quarter results before markets open Thursday, while government services provider CACI International (NYSE: CACI) will post after the close Wednesday and hold a call with analysts the morning after.

Raytheon ended as the GCI’s fourth-best net performer Wednesday with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) third and airplane electronics maker Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) fifth.

Rockwell Collins’ stock has recovered roughly 42.47 percent of Monday decline on flat revenue guidance for its 2017 fiscal year that started at the beginning of October.

Volume for Rockwell Collins shares totaled 3.1 million shares traded at nearly three-fold over the three-month average Wednesday and the company’s stock has exceeded the latter for three consecutive sessions.

Maximus (NYSE: MMS) ended as the GovCon Index’s lowest percentage performer and second-worst for net movers.

Financial shares led four advancing sectors in the S&P 500 versus seven decliners after economic data that showed the October services PMI index increased to 54.8 from 52.3 and new home sales climbed 3.1 percent in September.

Crude oil futures in New York settled down 1.56 percent to $49.18 per barrel after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. stockpiles fell 600, 000 barrels versus market expectations of a 1.7-million increase as traders are showing caution over the prospects of an OPEC agreement to cut production in late November, Reuters reported.

Market Summary

Top GovCon Index Net Performers

Top GovCon Index Percentage Performers

Lowest GovCon Index Net Performers

Lowest GovCon Index Percentage Performers