Sour report on Northrop

Shares of the L.A.-based aerospace company are down a little this morning - no doubt influenced by a less-than-glowing Corporate Focus in today's WSJ. Since March 2003, Northrop stock has generated total shareholder returns of 67.8 percent. Compare that with Raytheon's 80 percent, Lockheed's 80.1 percent and General Dynamics's 164 percent. The basic gripe against Northrop is that its diversification efforts haven't quite matched those of Lockheed. Northrop is teaming up with the parent company of European-based Airbus to compete with Boeing for a big Air Force contract. There's also more domestic security work being pursued.