Northrop Grumman 1Q Profit Jumps on Unprecedented Demand

By Connor Hart

Northrop Grumman logged a jump in profit and higher sales in the first quarter, amid what Chief Executive Kathy Warden called an unprecedented global demand environment.

The aerospace-and-defense company on Tuesday posted a profit of $875 million, compared with $481 million a year earlier. Quarterly earnings of $6.14 a share topped the $6.05 a share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Total sales rose 4.4% to $9.88 billion, ahead of Wall Street models for $9.75 billion.

Sales of aeronautics systems jumped 17%, while sales of defense and mission systems climbed 5.2% and 1.9%, respectively. The increases offset sales of space systems, which fell 3.4%.

First-quarter net awards totaled $9.8 billion, and backlog stood at $95.6 billion, the company said.

"With our diverse portfolio, robust manufacturing capacity and proven performance, we're delivering differentiating technology at speed and scale in support of our customers' needs," Warden said.

Looking ahead, Northrop backed its full-year outlook, which calls for adjusted earnings of $27.40 to $27.90 a share on revenue of $43.50 billion to $44 billion. Analysts are looking for adjusted earnings of $27.97 a share on revenue of $43.94 billion.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2026 07:10 ET (11:10 GMT)