Despite concerns about an uncertain economy, Gulfstream is seeing strong demand from both public and private companies in North America, according to Phebe Novakovic, chair and CEO of the Savannah, Georgia airframerâs parent company General Dynamics.
Participating this week in a Bernstein 39th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Novakovic told analysts Gulfstream has planned for a 1:1 book to bill and âwe continue to believe that is reasonable,â according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.
In addition to characterizing demand in North America, she added parts of Asia are also âvery strong,â but not in China. The Middle East is a good market right now, while Europe is âmoderate.â
One area that seems to be easing is sales to high net-worth individuals, she said, but added, âSo far the remainder of our potential customers and customers have been pretty robust. And the pipeline remains quite good.â
While noting that Gulfstream is not immune from economic cycles, Novakovic maintained, âWe have a very sticky backlog. So that helps mitigate thatâ in case of a downturn.
As for pricing, she said, âWe hold pricing very dear,â but did see continued improvement on that front. As Gulfstream is preparing to bring two more models to market over the next year or so, she further stressed, âWe don't chase market share. It's a good way to go broke if you're measuring yourself on market share. We chase profitability.â