Northrop Grumman beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines in Q1 2026, but the stock still moved lower in early trading Tuesday.
$NOC Q1’26 EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS
Revenue: $9.88B (Est. $9.76B)
; +4% YoY
FY Guide:
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) April 21, 2026
EPS came in at $6.14, clearing the consensus estimate of $6.05. Revenue reached $9.88 billion, up 4% from $9.47 billion in Q1 2025, and ahead of the $9.76 billion analysts had expected.
The biggest driver was the Aeronautics Systems segment, where sales jumped 17%. That was boosted by a deal with the U.S. Air Force to expand B-21 bomber production capacity and speed up the Sentinel program’s initial operating capability.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, NOC
Operating income surged 73% to $989 million. Operating margin expanded to 10.0% from just 6.1% a year ago. A large part of that improvement came from the absence of a $477 million B-21 loss provision that had weighed on Q1 2025 results.
Segment operating income rose 89% to $1.07 billion. Segment operating margin improved to 10.8% from 6.0%.
Net new awards totalled $9.8 billion in the quarter. Total backlog stood at $95.6 billion — more than twice the company’s annual sales.
Organic sales grew 5% year-over-year.
Northrop kept its full-year 2026 guidance unchanged. The company projects sales of $43.5 billion to $44.0 billion and MTM-adjusted EPS of $27.40 to $27.90.
Analysts currently forecast EPS of around $28 — above the top of that range. For context, when Northrop first issued guidance in January, analyst projections were closer to $29.
Free cash flow guidance remained at $3.1 billion to $3.5 billion. Segment operating income is expected between $4.85 billion and $5.0 billion.
CEO Kathy Warden called the results a demonstration of the company’s ability to deliver in “today’s unprecedented global demand environment.”
Despite the beat, NOC fell around 1.6% in premarket trading to $646.67. The S&P 500 and Dow futures were both up at the same time.
The stock had already gained 15% year-to-date coming into Tuesday, and around 24% over the past 12 months. It now trades at roughly 23 times forward earnings, up from about 19 times a year ago.
That elevated valuation may explain why a solid earnings beat wasn’t enough to push the stock higher.
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