Northrop Grumman (NOC) Competitors

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and Honeywell International (NASDAQ:HON) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in NOC or HON?

83.4% of Northrop Grumman shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Honeywell International shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Northrop Grumman shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Honeywell International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings and valuation, NOC or HON?

Honeywell International has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Northrop Grumman. Honeywell International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northrop Grumman, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northrop Grumman	$39.29B	1.66	$2.06B	$14.30	30.77
Honeywell International	$36.66B	3.71	$5.66B	$8.63	24.19

Is NOC or HON more profitable?

Honeywell International has a net margin of 15.52% compared to Northrop Grumman's net margin of 5.38%. Honeywell International's return on equity of 35.88% beat Northrop Grumman's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northrop Grumman	5.38%	24.09%	7.88%
Honeywell International	15.52%	35.88%	9.89%

Which has more volatility and risk, NOC or HON?

Northrop Grumman has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Honeywell International has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NOC or HON a better dividend stock?

Northrop Grumman pays an annual dividend of $8.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Honeywell International pays an annual dividend of $4.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Northrop Grumman pays out 57.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Honeywell International pays out 50.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Honeywell International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NOC or HON?

Honeywell International received 535 more outperform votes than Northrop Grumman when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.58% of users gave Honeywell International an outperform vote while only 62.33% of users gave Northrop Grumman an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northrop Grumman	Outperform Votes 647 62.33%	Underperform Votes 391 37.67%
Honeywell International	Outperform Votes 1182 75.58%	Underperform Votes 382 24.42%

Does the media favor NOC or HON?

In the previous week, Honeywell International had 17 more articles in the media than Northrop Grumman. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Honeywell International and 7 mentions for Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Honeywell International's score of 0.58 indicating that Northrop Grumman is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northrop Grumman	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Honeywell International	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate NOC or HON?

Northrop Grumman presently has a consensus target price of $514.33, indicating a potential upside of 16.88%. Honeywell International has a consensus target price of $220.38, indicating a potential upside of 5.55%. Given Northrop Grumman's higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Northrop Grumman is more favorable than Honeywell International.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northrop Grumman	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
Honeywell International	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Summary

Honeywell International beats Northrop Grumman on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.