A pension tailwind, lower tax rate and higher operating income led Northrop Grumman [NOC] on Wednesday to post strong earnings in its first quarter as sales grew modestly.Net income rose 15 percent to $640 million, $3.63 earnings per share (EPS), from $556 million ($3.03 EPS) a year ago, topping analysts’ expectations by 21 cents per share. The per share results also benefited from a lower share count due to the company’s spending on stock repurchases.Overall operating margin expanded 1.1 percent…
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