$34.1-Million Net for Northrop in Quarter

Northrop Corp. on Tuesday reported a third-quarter profit of $34.1 million, a rebound from a loss of $30.5 million in the same quarter last year.

The turnaround for the Los Angeles-based aerospace firm was due mainly to the absence of a major writedown it took last year on a classified project, apparently the Stealth bomber.

The year-ago loss came when the company took a $90-million writedown as it adjusted profit margins on the classified government project. Analysts said they believed that the project was the Stealth, the radar-foiling bomber Northrop has been working on for six years.

Revenue for the third quarter rose nearly 16% to $1.46 billion from $1.26 billion.

For the nine months, the company earned $59.3 million, up 85.9% from the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up 8.6% to $4.29 billion.

In the second quarter of this year, Northrop made another financial adjustment for the Stealth, that time taking a $125-million writedown. The company has said it expects no further adjustments on that contract.