FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) _ Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $2.71 billion.

The Falls Church, Virginia-based company said it had profit of $17.14 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $6 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $5.95 per share.

The defense contractor posted revenue of $8.64 billion in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.97 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $7.01 billion, or $43.54 per share. Revenue was reported as $35.67 billion.

Northrop Grumman expects full-year earnings in the range of $24.50 to $25.10 per share, with revenue in the range of $36.2 billion to $36.6 billion.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NOC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NOC

Copyright by Automated Insights, Inc. All rights reserved., source Associated Press News