Textron Needs to Flex Its Military Muscle

Wall Street was not impressed with the quarterly results Textron (NYSE: TXT) delivered last week, sending shares of the industrial conglomerate down 4% post-earnings. The company actually posted better-than-expected earnings during the three months ending Sept. 30, but investors were more focused on a revenue miss and Textron's tepid outlook for the full year.

It's a familiar refrain for Textron, which has seen its shares greatly underperform the S&P 500 over the past year due to a series of misfires spread across different parts of its portfolio. Last fall, troubles in its industrial businesses, and specifically its snowmobile unit, were cause for concern. This summer, weak commercial aerospace sales were the culprit.