FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) _ Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $330 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Falls Church, Virginia-based company said it had net income of $1.97 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $6.59 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $5.70 per share.

The defense contractor posted revenue of $10.21 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $9.24 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $3.19 billion, or $19.03 per share. Revenue was reported as $36.8 billion.

Northrop Grumman expects full-year earnings in the range of $23.15 to $23.65 per share, with revenue in the range of $35.1 billion to $35.5 billion.

Northrop Grumman shares have decreased 4% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has fallen 23% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NOC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NOC

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