A new McAleese & Associates report says Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) reported $13.5B in new awards during the second quarter of 2019 with a total backlog of $63B and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.6x.
Jim McAleese, founder and principal of McAleese & Associates and a 2019 Wash100 winner, wrote the Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor saw its Q2 sales climb 19 percent to $8.5B and recorded a sector operating profit growth of 26 percent driven by $130M new profit from its innovation systems business plus $56M profit spike from its mission systems segment.
Some of the new orders Northrop booked in the second quarter are the $4.1B for the F-35 program; $3.6B with the U.S. Navy for the delivery of additional 24 E-2D Advance Hawkeye aircraft and related equipment; $843MÂ for classified space programs; $265M for the Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic program; and $365M for the Global Hawk program.
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems reported $1.5B in Q2 2019 sales and an operating margin of 11.3 percent, while the company’s mission systems sector recorded a 9 percent sales growth and a sector operating profit growth of 16 percent.
The company’s aerospace systems business posted a 2 percent growth in Q2 sales at $3.4B, while the technology services segment recorded $1B in sales during the quarter, according to the report.
Northrop CEO and a 2019 Wash100 winner Kathy Warden said during the earnings call Wednesday that the company is positioned to support the U.S. Air Force’s requirements for the potential $63B Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, McAleese noted in his report.
“There is a 150-day response period, so we will be submitting our proposal late this year and still expect an award in the mid-to-late part of 2020,†Warden said of the request for proposals for GBSD. “We have been executing tech maturation and risk-reduction for the last several years on GBSD. We have been able to retire risk and really mature our offering … wrung some of that risk out of our offering.â€
