10 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar

5. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is one of the stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar. When a caller asked if the stock is a buy, sell, or hold, Cramer replied:

“I’m going to say weak hold. I don’t like the traditional hardware defense stocks, particularly if they’re up a lot, which happens to be the case of Northrop Grumman. So… a little profit-taking there. It’s a little above the market multiple.”

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) develops aerospace and defense technologies spanning advanced aircraft, unmanned systems, missiles, missile defense, and precision weapons, along with C4ISR, radar, electronic warfare, and space systems. Additionally, the company’s products include satellites, launch vehicles, propulsion systems, and sustainment and modernization services for global defense and security applications. Cramer mentioned the company in an April episode. He said:

“Finally, there’s Northrop Grumman, which was the dud of the day, reporting a severe top and bottom line miss for the first quarter, and cutting its full year earnings forecast pretty substantially. Now there’s some important context here. Both the miss and the forecast cut were related to Northrop Grumman’s next generation B-21 bomber program. They’re taking a hit on the higher cost as they try to ramp up production. That said, even if you add that back, the impact from the B-21 charge, Northrop Grumman still would’ve missed the sales and earnings estimate. It just would’ve been a smaller disappointment. These Northrop Grumman results simply weren’t up to snuff so the stock had its worst day since 2008 today, falling $67 or nearly 13%. This one’s now in the penalty box.”

Since the above comment was aired, the company stock has gained over 25%.