By Matt Grossman

Northrop Grumman Corp. on Thursday posted a larger profit and stronger revenue year over year in the latest three-month period, led by growth in the company's aeronautics division.

The Falls Church, Va.-based aerospace-and-defense company recorded a third-quarter profit of $986 million, or $5.89 a share, compared with $933 million, or $5.49 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings per share of $5.63.

Northrop Grumman's revenue was $9.08 billion, up from $8.48 billion in last year's third quarter. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $8.86 billion.

Revenue from the company's largest division, aeronautics systems, climbed 5% to $2.91 billion. Mission-systems and space-systems revenue climbed 10% and 17% year over year, respectively, while defense-systems revenue declined by 4%.

The company's backlog grew to $81.3 billion, which was a record, Northrop Grumman said.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-22-20 0714ET