LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. said Thursday it posted a fourth-quarter profit of $413 million in contrast to a year-ago loss as sales rose 2 percent.
The profit reported Thursday for the last three months of 2009 was equivalent to $1.31 a share versus a loss of $2.53 billion, or $7.75 a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $8.93 billion from $8.78 billion a year earlier.
In December, the company completed the sale of TASC Inc., its advisory services business, for $1.65 billion in cash and a net gain of 5 cents a share. Northrop Grumman said it accounted for TASC's operating results as discontinued operations, and its overall results have been adjusted for the divestiture.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.26 a share on revenue of $9 billion for the fourth quarter.
It forecast 2010 earnings per share from continuing operations of $5.70 to $5.95. Analysts were expecting full-year 2010 adjusted earnings of $5.58 a share on revenue of $35.87 billion.
Full-year 2009 profit came to $1.69 billion, or $5.21 a share, in contrast to a loss of $1.26 billion, or $3.77 a share, in 2008. Annual revenue came to $33.76 billion, compared to $32.32 billion in 2008.
Northrop Grumman, based in Los Angeles, is planning to move its corporate office to the Washington, D.C., area by 2011.
The company has two operations in Albuquerque.
