Northrop Grumman Corporation
Explore Northrop Grumman Corporation
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
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Northrop Grumman Corporation
Explore Northrop Grumman Corporation
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
Financial Performance
Revenue
$42B
Market Cap
$67.5B
Net Income
$4.0B
Employees
101,000
Revenue grew from $36.6 billion in FY2022 to $42B in FY2025, a compound rate that reflects both organic program growth and the maturation of Space Systems following the Orbital ATK integration. Net income of $4 billion on $42B in revenue implies a net margin of approximately 9.8% — consistent with defense contracting economics, where margins are constrained by government oversight and competitive bidding but sustained by long program cycles and high barriers to competitive entry. The B-21 Raider's cumulative development losses exceeding $1.6 billion through FY2025 are recorded as charges against the Aeronautics Systems segment. Under fixed-price development contracts, cost overruns are absorbed by the contractor rather than passed through to the government — the mechanism by which Northrop accepted near-term accounting pain in exchange for production franchise exclusivity. The logic works if production unit costs improve as manufacturing processes mature, a trajectory that requires sustained investment in tooling, workforce training, and supply chain development during the early production runs. The Sentinel ICBM Nunn-McCurdy breach — triggered when estimated lifecycle costs exceeded 25% above the original baseline — creates congressional reporting obligations but does not automatically terminate the program. ICBM replacement is considered essential to US nuclear deterrence posture, and there is no alternative contractor to whom the work could be transferred at any price. Northrop's effective monopoly on this capability limits the government's negotiating options, which is precisely the dynamic the company's long-term capital allocation strategy was designed to create. Capital allocation at Northrop has emphasized share repurchases and dividends over the past several years, returning substantial cash to shareholders in a business that requires large but relatively predictable capital investment in program-specific facilities. The $67.5 billion market capitalization at fiscal year-end reflects stable earnings, visible long-cycle revenue, and the competitive moat created by classified capabilities that no amount of spending can quickly replicate.
Revenue Trend Analysis
YoY Change
+2.2%
5-Year CAGR
+2.7%
Peak Year
2025
Trend
Consistent Growth
Northrop Grumman Corporation has reported revenue across 6 fiscal years, compounding at +2.7% annually over 5 years. The most recent year saw a 2.2% increase versus the prior year. Revenue peaked in 2025 at $42.0B. Out of 5 reported periods, 4 showed growth and 1 showed a decline.
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | Net Income | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $42.0B | — | +2.2% |
| FY2024 | $41.0B | $4.0B | +4.4% |
| FY2023 | $39.3B | — | +7.3% |
| FY2022 | $36.6B | — | +2.6% |
| FY2021 | $35.7B | — | -3.1% |
| FY2020 | $36.8B | — | — |
Source: SEC EDGAR filings, annual earnings releases, and verified financial disclosures.
Click any row to see year details.
Northrop Grumman's revenue post the 2011 Huntington Ingalls spin-off declined initially as the shipbuilding revenue stripped out, with 2012 revenue at approximately $25.2 billion. Growth then resumed: $24.5 billion in 2014, $30.1 billion in 2018 (the first full year including Orbital ATK), $36.8 billion in 2021, $36.6 billion in 2022, $39.3 billion in 2023, and $41.0 billion in 2024. Net income tracked revenue with significant year-to-year volatility tied to contract charges: $2.0 billion (2014), $3.2 billion (2018), $7.0 billion (2021 — boosted by a roughly $2 billion gain on the IT services divestiture), $4.9 billion (2022), $2.1 billion (2023 — depressed by B-21 charges), and $4.2 billion (2024). Operating margin has typically run in the 11-12% range, with quarterly variability driven by long-cycle contract cost adjustments. EPS has grown from approximately $9 in 2014 to $26-28 in 2023-2024, supported by both earnings growth and an aggressive share-repurchase program that reduced share count from 220 million in 2014 to roughly 145 million by 2024. The shape of the business — long-cycle contracts, multi-year backlog visibility, and steady US defense budgets — has produced relatively predictable cash generation despite contract-by-contract earnings noise.
Northrop Grumman ended 2024 with total backlog of approximately $84 billion, providing roughly 2x trailing-revenue coverage and multi-year visibility on existing programs. The backlog is split between funded backlog (work for which appropriations have been passed and contract obligations exist) and unfunded backlog (contract values for options and future task orders not yet appropriated). Major contributors include the B-21 Raider production phase, the Sentinel (formerly Ground Based Strategic Deterrent) ICBM program, F-35 radar deliveries, classified space programs, and Triton/Global Hawk follow-on production. Book-to-bill ratio — new orders divided by revenue — was above 1.0 in 2023-2024, indicating that backlog continued to grow even as revenue expanded. Award milestones that materially affected backlog include the B-21 EMD-to-LRIP transition in 2024 and Sentinel re-baselining following the 2024 Nunn-McCurdy breach (cost growth that triggered automatic congressional review). The backlog stability reflects the structural moat of defense contracting: programs span decades, switching costs to alternative primes are prohibitive, and incumbent positions on major systems compound over time. Investors track backlog quarterly as a leading indicator of revenue, and the depth of Northrop's backlog has been a significant valuation support.
Northrop Grumman has run one of the most aggressive capital-return programs in the defense industry, reducing share count from approximately 305 million in 2003 to roughly 145 million by 2024 — a more than 50% reduction primarily through share repurchases. Cumulative buyback spending across 2003-2024 exceeded $35 billion. The company has also paid a continuous quarterly dividend since 1951, with the 2024 annualized rate at approximately $8.08 per share representing a payout ratio near 30% of free cash flow. Combined dividend plus buyback return of capital has typically run at $3-5 billion annually in recent years. Compared with peers: Lockheed Martin has similarly emphasized buybacks and dividends, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) carries higher dividend yield with less aggressive buyback, General Dynamics balances dividend and buybacks at lower magnitude, and Boeing has paused both following 737 MAX and 787 quality crises. Northrop's preference for buybacks over reinvestment reflects the cash-generative nature of defense contracts and the limited M&A opportunity set given antitrust constraints among the five remaining US defense primes. The share-count reduction has been a major driver of EPS growth — roughly 2-3% per year compounded — alongside operating income growth.
Northrop Grumman's internal research and development (IR&D) spending was approximately $1.3 billion in 2024, against revenue of $41 billion — roughly 3.1% of revenue. This understates total R&D effort because the vast majority of defense research is conducted as customer-funded development on contract (the B-21 development phase alone has consumed multi-billion dollars annually) rather than as company-funded IR&D. Combined customer-funded plus company-funded R&D conducted by Northrop on US government programs likely exceeds $10 billion annually. Capital expenditures totaled approximately $1.7 billion in 2024, focused on the Palmdale B-21 production facility, Sentinel propulsion-development and missile-assembly sites, satellite production infrastructure, and information technology. The largest single capital project of the late 2010s and 2020s has been the expansion and tooling of the Palmdale Site 4 final-assembly facility for the B-21, with cumulative spend in the multi-billion-dollar range. Capital intensity is structurally low for a defense contractor relative to commercial aerospace because most production facilities are dedicated, long-lived, and have already been depreciated across multiple programs. Working capital varies materially with billing milestones — Northrop's negative working capital cycle in production programs (customer advances exceed receivables) was a significant cash-flow support during the B-2 production run and is being reconstructed for the B-21.
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CorpDigest. "Northrop Grumman Corporation Revenue & Financials." CorpDigest, https://corpdigest.com/company/northrop-grumman/financials.<div style="font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;padding:12px 16px;max-width:520px"><strong>Northrop Grumman Corporation reported $42B in revenue (FY2025).</strong><br>Source: <a href="https://corpdigest.com/company/northrop-grumman/financials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CorpDigest — Northrop Grumman Corporation financials</a></div>