Northrop Grumman (NOC) Competitors

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

Is BA or NOC more profitable?

Northrop Grumman has a net margin of 10.17% compared to Boeing's net margin of -17.76%. Northrop Grumman's return on equity of 26.24% beat Boeing's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boeing	-17.76%	N/A	-9.19%
Northrop Grumman	10.17%	26.24%	7.96%

Do analysts recommend BA or NOC?

Boeing presently has a consensus price target of $195.16, suggesting a potential upside of 8.24%. Northrop Grumman has a consensus price target of $544.56, suggesting a potential upside of 22.08%. Given Northrop Grumman's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Northrop Grumman is more favorable than Boeing.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boeing	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.61
Northrop Grumman	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Does the media favor BA or NOC?

In the previous week, Boeing had 63 more articles in the media than Northrop Grumman. MarketBeat recorded 97 mentions for Boeing and 34 mentions for Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Boeing's score of 0.92 indicating that Northrop Grumman is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Boeing	56 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Northrop Grumman	23 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, BA or NOC?

Boeing has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northrop Grumman has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BA or NOC?

Boeing received 1372 more outperform votes than Northrop Grumman when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.10% of users gave Boeing an outperform vote while only 62.11% of users gave Northrop Grumman an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Boeing	Outperform Votes 2044 70.10%	Underperform Votes 872 29.90%
Northrop Grumman	Outperform Votes 672 62.11%	Underperform Votes 410 37.89%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BA or NOC?

64.8% of Boeing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Northrop Grumman shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Boeing shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Northrop Grumman shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, BA or NOC?

Northrop Grumman has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Boeing. Boeing 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
Boeing	$66.52B	2.03	-$11.82B	-$18.32	-9.84
Northrop Grumman	$41.03B	1.57	$4.17B	$28.34	15.74

Summary

Northrop Grumman beats Boeing on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.