News
Northrop First-Quarter Profit Rose Almost 50%
The AP (4/23, Borak) reports, "Northrop Grumman Corp. on Wednesday said it's first-quarter profit rose almost 50 percent, boosted by higher sales of military products like aerial drones and a larger contract for a satellite-based tracking system." The company also raised its outlook for 2009. The AP described Northrop as "largely insulated from the recession" compared to other companies, especially to "rival" Lockheed Martin, which reported a loss in profit on Tuesday. "Northrop said revenue rose almost 8 percent to 8.32 billion led by gains in electronics and technical services." Sales from the company's aerospace and "four business segments" also rose in the quarter. CEO Ronald Sugar said, "Northrop Grumman is off to a solid start in 2009," The Wall Street Journam (4/23, B3, Cole), Bloomberg News (4/23, Lococo), the Orlando Sentinel (4/23, Burnett), Reuters (4/22), and Dow Jones Newswire (4/22) also cover the story.
LATimes Compares "Shifting Fortunes" Of Boeing, Northrop. The Los Angeles Times (4/23, Pae) compares the arnings reports from both Boeing and Northrop. "The results reflected the shifting fortunes of two companies. Boeing, the world's largest marker of commercail aircraft has been hit hard by a recession-included slum in air travel," while Northrop "has been buoyed by the continued uptick in Pentagon spending."
