
Northrop Grumman [NOC] on Wednesday reported a huge leap in its bottom line in the second quarter driven primarily by a lower tax rate and a pension benefit and the company increased its profit guidance for 2018 based on a lower than expected tax rate this year.Net income jumped 24 percent to $689 million, $3.93 earnings per share (EPS), from $555 million ($3.16 EPS), beating consensus estimates by nine cents a share. Operating martin rate slipped 1.9 percent to 11.6…