By Al Root

Northrop Grumman investors can breathe a sigh of relief.

Shares rose on Tuesday, snapping a 10-day losing streak.

It was the longest losing streak for the company since July 2010, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares dropped 17% back during that streak; they lost 16% this time.

It was touch-and-go for a while. The stock almost made it 11 straight. Shares traded as low as $570.66 before closing at $577.82, up 0.5% on the day. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%.

Defense stocks have faced a few headwinds lately. For starters, there was the Iran war and President Donald Trump's record $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027. Those are good things for the sector, but investors often sell when they believe things can't get any better.

The slide has also coincided with weaker approval ratings for President Trump. Investors might fear that Democrats, if they win big in the midterms and take control of Congress, would put a cap on military spending growth.

Whatever the exact mix of reasons, the sector and Northrop shares are lower. Losses have left Northrop shares trading for about 20 times earnings expected over the coming 12 months. That's up from about 18 times a year ago.

Shares are still a little more expensive because earnings growth is supposed to accelerate. Over the past three years, Northrop's earnings per share grew by about 1% a year on average. That is expected to be closer to 8% over the coming three years.

Whether the recent dip is a buying opportunity is hard to say. Wall Street is fine with the stock. Overall, about 54% of analysts covering shares rate them Buy, in line with the average Buy-rating ratio for the S&P 500. The average analyst price target for shares is $736, up about 27% from recent levels.

That's a big jump. Analysts, however, didn't change price targets during the recent selloff. The average analyst price target is up from about $537 a year ago.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2026 17:55 ET (21:55 GMT)

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