Northrop Grumman Is a Space Company Now, and That's Good News for Investors

Seven years ago, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) embarked upon a bold experiment. Buying space company Orbital ATK, Northrop would transform itself from an aerospace company (with an emphasis on the "aero" part but only a tangential relationship to space) into a more balanced aerospace stock with equal parts aeronautics and space systems.Initially, the experiment didn't go well. Orbital ATK had invested heavily in an OmegA rocket ship that Northrop hoped would give it a leg up winning Pentagon rocket-launch contracts, but within a couple years of buying Orbital, the U.S. Space Force declined to buy any rocket launches on OmegA, and the program was terminated.Judging from last week's earnings report, however, Northrop has recovered from this initial stumble. Increasingly, it's also contributing to Northrop's profitability.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool