Northrop Grumman (NOC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Northrop Grumman (NOC) closed at $455.47, marking a +0.47% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.62%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 5.66%.
Coming into today, shares of the defense contractor had gained 2.33% in the past month. In that same time, the Aerospace sector gained 2.84%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.44%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Northrop Grumman as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Northrop Grumman is projected to report earnings of $5.31 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 12.38%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.3 billion, up 5.7% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $22.57 per share and revenue of $38.33 billion. These totals would mark changes of -11.63% and +4.71%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Northrop Grumman should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.15% lower. Northrop Grumman is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Northrop Grumman has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.09 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.05, so we one might conclude that Northrop Grumman is trading at a premium comparatively.
It is also worth noting that NOC currently has a PEG ratio of 5.29. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Aerospace - Defense was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.75 at yesterday's closing price.
The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, which puts it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
