Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC), Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), The Boeing Company (BA): Did This Hurt Earnings?

Northrop Grumman first-quarter earnings fell 3.4%. Reported net earnings of $489 million, were down from $506 million the same quarter the year previous.

Revenue declined to $6.1 billion from $6.2 billion a year ago. The aerospace division increased 4% in sales. However, revenue decreased 1.5% to $6.1 billion in the information systems and technical services segments, offsetting growth at its aerospace systems unit. Electronics systems sales were essentially flat.

The total backlog at the end of the quarter was $39.4 billion, compared with $40.8 billion in the previous quarter, and includes awards of $4.7 billion during the first quarter of 2013. The company indicated that the backlog was “due to customer response to the current U.S. government budget environment,” a strong nod to the sequester.

Northrop Grumman CEO and Chairman Wes Bush called the future an, “uncertain and constrained budget environment.”

While no one defense and aeronautics company has truly shown the effects of sequestration yet, each of the companies is aware of potential repercussions, and has warned investors, and tightened belts. It is not yet known how significant the defense industry cuts will be, however, they are not going to be as frightful as the originally feared $500 billion loss.

For now, each of these defense industry contractors are still great investments. They have each shown the ability to act and operate smart seeing pending difficulties. The diversified nature of the different divisions within the competitors helps as well, so that no one major federal cutback can’t be overcome in other divisions.

The article Did Sequestration and the Dreamliner Hurt Boeing Earnings? originally appeared on Fool.com.

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