northrop grumman corp’s noc stock rose 15 before market open thursday boosted by the defense contractor’s betterthanexpected fourthquarter results and robust sales guidance the company earned 1346 a share which included a 596 per share benefit from marketable securities compared with earnings of 1714 a share in the prior year’s quarter northrop grumman reported adjusted earnings of 750 a share above the factset consensus of 658 a share and sales of 10 billion up from 86 billion in the prior year’s quarter analysts surveyed by factset had expected sales of 9665 billion the company raised its full year sales outlook to 38 billion to 384 billion compared with the factset consensus of 378 billion “given our proven ability to competitively win hire and perform we’re raising our sales outlook for 2023 and expect to deliver strong multiyear cash flow growth” said northrop grumman’s ceo kathy warden in a statement on an adjusted basis northrop grumman now sees 2023 adjusted eps of 2185 to 2245 compared with the factset consensus of 2249