Unaudited Selected Quarterly Data

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2010

UNAUDITED SELECTED QUARTERLY DATA [Abstract]


18.	UNAUDITED SELECTED QUARTERLY DATA

Unaudited quarterly financial results are set forth in the following tables. It is the company’s long-standing practice to establish actual interim closing dates using a “fiscal” calendar, which requires the businesses to close their books on a Friday, in order to normalize the potentially disruptive effects of quarterly close on business processes. The effects of this practice only exist within a reporting year. The company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (trading symbol NOC).


2010
$ in millions, except per share	1st Qtr		2nd Qtr		3rd Qtr		4th Qtr
Sales and service revenues	$	6,914	$	7,255	$	7,071	$	6,903
Operating income		680		749		723		675
Earnings from continuing operations		410		740		448		306
Net earnings		469		711		497		376
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations		1.36		2.47		1.53		1.05
Basic earnings per share		1.55		2.37		1.69		1.29
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations		1.34		2.44		1.51		1.03
Diluted earnings per share		1.53		2.34		1.67		1.27

Significant 2010 Fourth Quarter Events – In the fourth quarter of 2010, the company recorded a pre-tax charge of $229 million related to the redemption of outstanding debt and made a $360 million contribution to the company’s pension plans.


2009
$ in millions, except per share	1st Qtr		2nd Qtr		3rd Qtr		4th Qtr
Sales and service revenues	$	6,586	$	7,049	$	6,732	$	7,283
Operating income		556		627		528		563
Earnings from continuing operations		325		381		401		327
Net earnings		364		370		461		491
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations		.99		1.18		1.26		1.05
Basic earnings per share		1.11		1.15		1.45		1.57
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations		.98		1.17		1.25		1.04
Diluted earnings per share		1.10		1.14		1.44		1.56

Significant 2009 Fourth Quarter Event – In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company sold ASD for $1.65 billion in cash.

- Definition

This element can be used to disclose the entire quarterly financial data disclosure in the annual financial statements as a single block of text. The disclosure includes a tabular presentation of financial information for each fiscal quarter for the current and previous year, including revenues, gross profit, income (loss) before extraordinary items and cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle and earnings per share data. It also includes an indication if the information in the note is unaudited, comments on the aggregate effect of year-end adjustments, and an explanation of matters or transactions that affect comparability or are pertinent to an understanding of the information furnished. Alternatively, the details of this disclosure can be reported using the elements in this group, or by using other taxonomy elements and applying the appropriate quarterly date and period contexts when creating an instance document. For example, the element for "Interest and Dividend Income, Operating" may be used by financial institutions from the Statement of Income, applying the appropriate quarterly date and period context when creating an instance document.

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