A&D sector earnings, a key financial performance indicator, outpaced revenue growth globally. The sector added US$5.1 billion in global profits, reaching a record US$62.6 billion. Commercial aerospace grew earnings by 15.7 percent, because of more aircraft delivered at lower costs. Defense companies grew earnings by 3.6 percent despite the revenue decline cited above, which was mostly the result of anticipatory cost cuts.

In 2013, despite the fall in defense ubsector revenues and the slowing pace of growth in commercial aerospace, A&D sector hare prices continued to advance at a significantly greater rate than most of the global averages. U.S.-based A&D sector companies outpaced the Dow Jones Industrials and Standard & Poor’s 500 averages at 39.4 percent versus. 28.1 percent and 31.8 percent respectively. European A&D companies outpaced the STOXX 600 index, 41.4 percent to 17.3 percent. Likely contributors to hare price increases for commercial aerospace include the continued increased demand for commercial air travel, increased demand for fuel efficient aircraft, greater subsector profit margins, increased generation of free cash flow, and an expectation of continued above average growth prospects for the subsector.