General Dynamics Cites Cessna in Reporting Losses

General Dynamics Corp., a leading defense contractor, said Monday that it lost $326.1 million in the fourth quarter and $52.5 million for all of 1986, largely because of the cost of purchasing Cessna Aircraft.

By comparison, the company had reported a profit of $90.4 million for the fourth quarter of 1985 and earnings of $383.3 million for the full year.

Revenue for the quarter rose 9.1% to $2.38 billion from $2.19 billion in 1985. Revenues for the year were up 12% to $8.89 billion from $8.0 billion in 1985.

The discontinuation of its Quincy Shipbuilding and Datagraphix operations also affected the results, the company said.

Excluding the effect of the company’s charge to earnings for Cessna, it said earnings from continuing operations edged up to $85.6 million in the fourth quarter from $82.2 million a year earlier, and slipped to $356.7 million for the full year from $361.1 million in 1985.