Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Kathy Warden: So, overall the space business is performing very well. We certainly have pockets on certain programs that we are focused on continuing to improve the disciple around tower managing those efforts along with the customer. And so, I don’t see space as majorly different than any other segments of our business in terms of risk profile aside from mix. Certainly there is more risk in development programs and that’s why we generally have where our margin rate coming out of development. But as space has transitioned programs to later stage developments in production, their performance has out solid the rest of the business and we expect that to continue.

Seth Seifman: Great. And maybe just as a quick follow-up in AI. Perhaps feudal attempt to bring out a little bit more information about the NGAD strategy. I believe the collaborative combat aircraft portion of NGAD is a separate solicitation. Are you planning to pursue that?

Kathy Warden: It is a separate solicitation and we’re looking at it closely.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Myles Walton with Wolfe Research. You may proceed.

Myles Walton: Thanks. Good morning. Kathy, you mentioned margin expansion in ’24 but obviously the margins for ’23 in the guidance have actually come down. So, I’m just wondering could you put a quantum to the margin expansion you’re looking for in ’24 as it to just get back to where prior ’23 was. And then maybe for Dave just a clarification, the 10-Q mentions a $100 million gain in the third quarter. That is into new guidance, I wouldn’t imagine just yet, is that correct?

Kathy Warden: So, I’ll start and then turn it to Dave. As I think about margin profile, we do expect the second half of this year to be stronger than the first half and based on our guide you could expect us to see that progress that we have largely from macroeconomic disruptions dissipating through the year to continue into 2024. The mix shift that I focus is more gradual. I talked about that shift toward 60% fixed price in 2027, so you could think of that as a progression through 2024 to those later years. And so, we’re not going to guide today around 2024. We will provide just some more specifics as the year progresses and certainly at the beginning of the year next year. But you could think of it as a steady progression of improvement not a dramatic change from where we’ve been performing this year.

David Keffer: And I could touch on the $100 million gain you referenced that that’s just an approximation, of course we’ve until that closes. We do expect that sale of an international minority investment to close in Q3. And that’s the item for which we’d increased our guidance range by $0.40 last quarter. So, that is incorporated into our guidance net, net we see that in that $0.40 range of benefit to the company. So, we’re pleased to have that approaching and look forward to the cash inflow from it as well.

Myles Walton: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for question. Our next question comes from David Strauss with Barclays. You may proceed.

David Strauss: Good morning, and thank you.

Kathy Warden: Kathy, so you’re — the growth rates accelerated a little bit faster in ’23 than you had initially anticipated. As we think about ’24 with AES returning to growth and I assume space growth slowing a little bit. Would you expect topline growth in a similar range or is it possible that we could still see an acceleration next year overall for the company evolve. Thanks.