First quarter earnings season has given investors with keen interest in the aerospace, defense and government contracting sectors a smorgasboard of items to consider as they gauge the industry’s health.

Many of the largest names in our GovCon Index of 30 government contractor stocks reported earnings and revenue that exceeded Wall Street™s expectations.

Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman,  Raytheon and L-3 Communications each posted first quarter earnings and revenue that either met or œBeat The Street on all fronts and raised either one or both of those key figures in their 2016 guidance.

Boeing posted a sharp 18-percent increase year-over-year in defense sales and left its 2016 outlook unchanged despite an earnings miss on a charge in the KC-46 tanker program.

So why is the GovCon Index on pace for a one-third percent weekly loss?

Raytheon’s stock has declined nearly 3 percent since its earnings release Thursday on investor concern over the company’s profitability in the short term, while shares in CACI International have plummeted almost 13 percent over one-and-a-half days after the services contractor posted third quarter revenue figures below analyst forecasts.

Investors also had another chance to quiz the top leaders at Lockheed and Leidos on the future of both companies after they close their mega-deal as seen in the top two stories of our list below.

Continue reading below for our coverage of their comments to The Street plus those of CACI’s chief executive on their outlooks for the near- and long-term futures, along with a collection of seven other top stories in the government contracting arena for this week.

THE WEEK’S TOP 10 GOVCON STORIES