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Northrop Grumman earnings shock: growth speeds up to 6.7%!

Company · Oct 20, 2026 · 3 min read · Updated Nov 5, 2026

TL;DR

Northrop Grumman's sales grew 6.7% against the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q3, and the stock moved more than its peers on the day.

Sales grew faster than they did last quarter

Northrop Grumman makes planes, radars and space hardware for governments. In the three months to the end of September 2026, its rose again. Sales also rose from the quarter before, by 2.3%.

Glossary
sales
The total money a company takes in from selling its goods and services, before any costs are paid.
growth against the same quarter a year earlier
A comparison of this quarter with the matching quarter twelve months ago. It avoids the usual seasonal ups and downs.
Quarterly revenue and YoY growth
Growth against the same quarter a year earlier was 6.7% in 2026 Q3, faster than the quarter before.
Data table
periodrevenueyoy
2023Q4$10.6bn6.0%
2024Q1$10.1bn8.9%
2024Q2$10.2bn6.7%
2024Q3$10.0bn2.3%
2024Q4$10.7bn0.5%
2025Q1$9.5bn-6.6%
2025Q2$10.4bn1.3%
2025Q3$10.4bn4.3%
2025Q4$11.7bn9.6%
2026Q1$9.9bn4.4%
2026Q2$10.9bn5.1%
2026Q3$11.1bn6.7%

Here is the part a headline misses. Growth against the same quarter a year earlier was 6.7%, up from 5.1% in 2026 Q2. Revenue going up is nice. Revenue going up faster is the better news.

How fast do you think sales grew against the same quarter a year earlier?

Show answer

6.7% Growth was 6.7%. For a company whose customer is mostly one government, that is a brisk pace, and it was faster than the quarter before.

Zoom out and the pace looks calmer. Over the three years to 2026 Q3, sales grew 4.4% a year on average. This quarter ran ahead of that.

The stock moved more than its rivals in the same week

Investors often judge a defence company against its neighbours, because the same budget news lifts them all. In the window around this release, Northrop Grumman's move above the of 3 peers was 4.0% on the day itself. Counting from that day onward, the extra move adds to 3.9%, against 1.9% in the run-up.

Glossary
basket
A group of similar companies averaged together, used as a yardstick for the one you are studying.
Northrop and its peers around the release
On the day of the release, Northrop Grumman's extra move versus the three-peer basket was 4.0%.
Data table
dayseriesvalueseries_role
-10Northrop Grumman1.5%target
-9Northrop Grumman-0.6%target
-8Northrop Grumman1.8%target
-7Northrop Grumman1.0%target
-6Northrop Grumman1.9%target
-5Northrop Grumman1.1%target
-4Northrop Grumman4.1%target
-3Northrop Grumman4.9%target
-2Northrop Grumman9.2%target
-1Northrop Grumman7.3%target
0Northrop Grumman12.2%target
1Northrop Grumman13.3%target
2Northrop Grumman16.0%target
3Northrop Grumman15.8%target
-10Peer basket0.0%peer
-9Peer basket-1.7%peer
-8Peer basket-0.1%peer
-7Peer basket0.6%peer
-6Peer basket1.3%peer
-5Peer basket-0.2%peer
-4Peer basket1.9%peer
-3Peer basket2.9%peer
-2Peer basket6.1%peer
-1Peer basket5.3%peer
0Peer basket5.8%peer
1Peer basket5.7%peer
2Peer basket9.4%peer
3Peer basket9.4%peer
-10Cumulative abnormal return1.5%neutral
-9Cumulative abnormal return1.2%neutral
-8Cumulative abnormal return1.9%neutral
-7Cumulative abnormal return0.4%neutral
-6Cumulative abnormal return0.6%neutral
-5Cumulative abnormal return1.3%neutral
-4Cumulative abnormal return2.2%neutral
-3Cumulative abnormal return2.0%neutral
-2Cumulative abnormal return2.9%neutral
-1Cumulative abnormal return1.9%neutral
0Cumulative abnormal return6.0%neutral
1Cumulative abnormal return7.1%neutral
2Cumulative abnormal return6.0%neutral
3Cumulative abnormal return5.8%neutral

One caution. Only 4 trading days have passed since the release, including the day itself, so the after figure covers just the days we have. A short window can flatter or punish a stock. It also shows only that the move and the news happened at the same time.

Cheaper than its peers, yet a poor year for holders

On the earnings yardstick, Northrop Grumman trades at 17.4x, against a peer median of 26.0x. That is a discount of -33.2%. Only 2 peers had an earnings figure to compare; General Dynamics is left out because its quarterly earnings per share is not available.

Quick quiz

What does a lower earnings multiple than peers usually tell you?

Show answer

Investors pay less for each dollar of this company's profit than for its rivals' A multiple is a price tag on each dollar of profit. Northrop Grumman's 17.4x against a peer median of 26.0x says investors pay less here, not that the future is safer.

And the past year was not kind. Someone who held the shares for the 252 trading days to 23 October 2026 ended with -7.5%, while the market returned 14.4%. Past returns do not tell you what comes next.

My reading: a cheaper multiple plus a weak year says the market had already lowered its hopes before this release. The thing to follow is whether the faster growth holds for another quarter.

Risks

  • One-off items, such as the equipment sale, can flatter a single quarter's cash flow.
  • A basket of three peers is small; the comparison may say little.
  • Accounting or pension changes can distort the year-on-year comparison.

Sources

  1. SEC EDGAR XBRL companyfacts, NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP /DE/ — data as of 2026-09-30; fetched 2026-10-25 16:18 UTC
  2. FinMind USStockPrice GD — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:22 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  3. FinMind USStockPrice LMT — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:22 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  4. FinMind USStockPrice NOC — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:22 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges
  5. FinMind USStockPrice RTX — data as of 2026-10-23; fetched 2026-10-25 17:22 UTC; License note: FinMind open data; original source TWSE/TPEx or US exchanges