Northrop Grumman Corporation Remains Steadfast as the Market Wavers

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NOC - Northrop Grumman Corporation Remains Steadfast as the Market Wavers

Source: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr (modified)

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is not only one of the leading defense contractors in the world, it’s one of the forefathers of modern-era flight.

The History of NOC

Northrop Aircraft started in 1939. Almost straightaway, it entered the war effort with a contract for a bomber for Norway, followed in 1944 by a night fighter for the U.S.

Northrop went on to build iconic planes like the P-38 and the XB-35 Flying Wing. By 1948, Northrop had built one of the first supersonic jet fighters and the F/A-18 and the B-2 stealth bomber.

In 1930, Leroy Grumman and some of his colleagues launched the Grumman Corporation in an abandoned auto garage.

In 1931, it made the first fighter with retractable landing gear. And this was still the era of biplanes. Grumman went on to build some of the best fighters in WWII. Afterward, it pioneered electronic attack planes that defeated the enemies’ radar systems and jammed guidance for anti-aircraft missiles.

The companies combined in 1994 to form Northrop Grumman.

But that wasn’t the end of bringing together cutting edge engineering and technology. After the merger, NOC acquired Westinghouse and Litton Industries and Teledyne as well.

NOC Continues to Innovate in the Defense Sector

And NOC wasn’t just about aerospace or airplanes. Its mission was more about the electronics and their application. That’s what makes Northrop Grumman a special outfit.

For example, the company is part of the recently-signed multi-billion dollar Patriot missile deal with Poland. But NOC is not building the munitions, it’s building the network infrastructure so that the systems can operate in unison, reliably and securely.

Another example is the ‘TERN’ — tactically exploited reconnaissance node — drone system NOC is building for the U.S. Navy under a research contract with DARPA. The goal is to develop drones that can be launched from any size ship (and land on those ships) to give them better tactical information about their surroundings.

Right now, drones are capable of taking off and landing on about 15% of Navy ships. TERN is attempting to make drones available for the entire fleet.

NOC Is a Buy

Along with all of this innovation, NOC stock is certainly performing.

NOC quadrupled the performance of the S&P 500 in the past year and it has almost doubled the performance of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT), the biggest defense contractor in the world.

Part of that outperformance comes from the fact that while NOC still builds hardware — like the next-generation bomber the B-21 Raider — it also has significant expertise in ‘digital era’ warfare like C5ISR  as well as drones and aerospace.

And given the current global political conditions as the world revives from a decade-long slumber, defense spending and saber rattling are more likely to increase in coming years rather than decrease.

Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of five investing newsletters: Blue Chip Growth, Emerging Growth, Ultimate Growth, Family Trust and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Blue Chip Growth, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/04/noc-remains-steadfast-market-wavers/.

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