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Defense contractor building the B-21 stealth bomber, missile defense systems and space/intelligence satellites.
Defense contractor building the B-21 stealth bomber, missile defense systems and space/intelligence satellites.
Is paid by the US government on long-running development and production contracts, so revenue follows programme milestones. B-21, the Sentinel missile program (a replacement for the Minuteman ICBM) and space and missile-defence systems are anchors. It bought Orbital ATK in 2018, gaining solid rocket motors and space hardware.
Moat: wide (scale, IP / patents, regulatory licence). Sole-source classified B-21 bomber program and deep space/intelligence contractor relationships.
Headquarters: Falls Church, Virginia, US · Founded: 1994 · Employees: 95,000
Size Northrop Grumman (NOC) is a United States Industrials company (Aerospace & Defense) with a market value of $74.6B, the 180th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $525.01 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 4.5%, against -0.6% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 7th lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +10.1%); the operating margin is 10.6% (peer median 11.7%).
Valuation It trades at 17.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 26.8× (2nd cheapest of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 0% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +3%, so the hurdle is -2 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 5.1 points above its cost of capital (6.2% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $110B at 30 Sep 2026, up 20% on a year earlier — 2.5 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit Northrop Grumman has 18 bonds outstanding ($15.1B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A at a weighted spread of 72 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 1.6% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 28 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $43.6B | $42.0B | $41.0B | $39.3B | $36.6B |
| Revenue growth | — | +2% | +4% | +7% | — |
| Gross profit | $8.73B | $8.31B | $8.36B | $6.55B | $7.47B |
| EBITDA | $6.15B | $5.75B | $5.74B | $3.88B | $4.94B |
| Net income | $4.52B | $4.18B | $4.17B | $2.06B | $4.90B |
| Free cash flow | $3.83B | $3.31B | $2.62B | $2.10B | $1.47B |
| Capital expenditure | $1.44B | $1.45B | $1.77B | $1.77B | $1.44B |
| Total debt | $17.4B | $17.9B | $18.4B | $16.0B | $15.0B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northrop Grumman NOC | $74.6B | -4% | +7% | 11% | 17.8× | 0.2% |
| Lockheed Martin LMT | $131B | +12% | +8% | 12% | 17.6× | -6.9% |
| RTX RTX | $256B | +8% | +12% | 11% | 24.4× | 8.4% |
| Boeing BA | $137B | -27% | +18% | 0% | 179,875.5× | n/a |
| L3Harris LHX | $48.4B | -13% | +7% | 12% | 20.1× | 7.0% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | NOC | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +8.4% | +3.1% | 6th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -4.5% | -0.6% | 7th lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -32.2% | -21.0% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.5% | +10.1% | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 10.6% | 11.7% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 17.8× | 26.8× | 2nd cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 0.2% | 10.1% | 4th least demanding of 18 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +2.7% | +8.0% | lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -2.4 pp | +3.3 pp | 7th least demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +5.1 pp | +9.0 pp | 9th lowest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 14.3× | 18.6× | 3rd cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.2× | 1.2× | 5th most indebted of 20 |
| Bond spread | 72 bp | 74 bp | 7th tightest of 15 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northrop Grumman NOC | United States | $74.6B | -4% | +7% | 11% | 17.8× | 0.2% | +2.7% |
| BAE Systems BA..L | United Kingdom | $72.6B | -4% | +7% | 9% | 22.0× | 2.8% | +8.0% |
| Howmet Aerospace HWM | United States | $81.8B | -24% | +22% | 28% | 32.6× | 24.1% | +9.4% |
| TransDigm TDG | United States | $66.2B | -1% | +17% | 47% | 25.5× | 9.7% | +11.6% |
| General Dynamics GD | United States | $95.7B | +3% | +10% | 10% | 19.4× | -2.5% | +6.7% |
| Thales HO.PA | France | $51.1B | -1% | +7% | 11% | 20.6× | -2.8% | +7.6% |
| Honeywell Aerospace HONA | United States | $48.5B | n/a | n/a | 20% | 18.8× | n/a | n/a |
| L3Harris LHX | United States | $48.4B | -13% | +7% | 12% | 20.1× | 7.0% | +3.7% |
| Rheinmetall RHM.DE | Germany | $42.5B | -29% | -2% | 18% | 22.0× | 6.5% | +12.9% |
| Lockheed Martin LMT | United States | $131B | +12% | +8% | 12% | 17.6× | -6.9% | +2.8% |
| Boeing BA | United States | $137B | -27% | +18% | 0% | 179,875.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Safran SAF.PA | France | $138B | +4% | +14% | 13% | 28.5× | 22.2% | +13.4% |
| Rolls-Royce RR..L | United Kingdom | $140B | +6% | +19% | 18% | 28.5× | 24.6% | +13.0% |
| HEICO HEI | United States | $39.2B | +14% | +21% | 24% | 47.8× | 24.5% | +20.2% |
| Hindustan Aeronautics HAL.NS | India | $35.2B | +4% | +7% | 23% | 33.6× | 42.7% | +7.2% |
| Saab SAAB-B.ST | Sweden | $33.3B | +19% | +28% | 10% | 40.2× | 6.0% | +17.4% |
| Elbit Systems ESLT | United States | $32.0B | -13% | +12% | 9% | 46.5× | 10.1% | +11.5% |
| Airbus AIR.PA | France | $174B | +14% | +6% | 8% | 26.8× | 22.6% | +8.0% |
| Kongsberg Gruppen KOG.OL | Norway | $31.8B | +13% | -28% | 17% | 46.3× | 21.7% | +4.3% |
| Rocket Lab RKLB | United States | $31.8B | -50% | +53% | -29% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Leonardo LDO.MI | Italy | $31.0B | -4% | +10% | 7% | 20.2× | 14.3% | +7.8% |
Northrop Grumman has 18 bonds outstanding with $15.1B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A. Weighted yield 5.63%, a spread of 72 bp over government bonds.
Northrop Grumman reported $110B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026, up 20% from a year earlier and up 5% from the previous quarter. That is 2.5 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.44.