REUTERS - U.S. weapons maker Northrop Grumman Corp reported a 14.4 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, but forecast 2017 earnings per share below analysts' estimates.
Northrop, which makes the center sections for F-35 fighter jets, forecast 2017 earnings of $11.30-$11.60 per share and sales of about $25 billion.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $12.23 per share and revenue of $25.03 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's results come two days after the main contractor for the F-35 program, Lockheed Martin Corp, said it delivered fewer F-35s than forecast in 2016.
President Donald Trump has criticized the F-35 program as being too expensive.
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Northrop's net earnings rose to $525 million, or $2.96 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $459 million, or $2.49 per share, a year earlier.
Total sales rose to $6.40 billion from $5.69 billion.
The company's shares were little changed at $229.50 in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Martina D'Couto)
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