12:00 PM EDT, 04/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

Our 12-month target price of $485, raised by $32, reflects a 17.5x multiple of our 2025 EPS estimate, in line with NOC's historical forward average. We lift our 2024 EPS estimate by $0.35 to $24.85 and 2025's by $0.72 to $27.72. Q1 EPS of $6.32 vs. $5.50 beat the consensus view by $0.55. Q1 sales of $10.1 billion rose 9% year-over-year, led by Aeronautics Systems (+18%), offsetting some relative weakness in Defense Systems (+3%) and Mission Systems (+4%). Q1 operating margins widened by about 40 bps year-over-year to 10.6%. NOC tweaked its 2024 guidance in a couple of segments, raising margin expectations in Defense, but trimming slightly in Mission Systems. We think the defense budget for FY 25 allows for a small increase in spending, but likely not by much more than cost inflation, and thus we do not see it as a major catalyst to propel shares much higher. NOC sees share buybacks of at least $2.0 billion in 2024, complementing the dividend yield of 1.6%.