Northrop Grumman Corporation vs Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF — how do they compare? Northrop Grumman Corporation trades at $519.79 (market cap $73.24B), while Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF trades at $95.14. The key difference: Northrop Grumman Corporation pays a 1.92% dividend while Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF pays none, and Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund ETF is trading nearer its 52-week high, Northrop Grumman Corporation nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| NOC | VNQ | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $73.24B | — |
Sector | Industrials | — |
52-Week High | $768.02 | $100.95 |
52-Week Low | $496.02 | $87.00 |
Enterprise Value | $87.23B | — |
Dividend Yield | 1.92% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Northrop Grumman (NOC) trades at $518.58, up 0.7% with a bullish technical oscillator signal despite bearish moving averages. The company shows strong fundamentals with consistent earnings beats, 10.48% net margin, and record $105 billion backlog. Recent news highlights defense spending growth and successful technology tests, while institutional ownership increased significantly in Q2 2026.
Outlook remains positive with 57% analyst buy ratings and $618.43 consensus target offering 19% upside. Key risks include defense budget volatility and execution challenges on large contracts. Revenue growth acceleration to 10.48% margin by 2026 supports valuation at reasonable 16.37 P/E multiple.
VNQ trades at $95.92, down 0.1% on the day, with technical indicators showing a bearish trend as moving averages signal selling pressure while oscillators remain neutral. The ETF faces headwinds from elevated interest rates and competition from digital infrastructure REITs, though some analysts see potential in quality REITs during market downturns. Recent institutional selling activity suggests cautious positioning among major holders.
The outlook remains challenged by interest rate sensitivity and AI-driven capital rotation away from traditional REITs. Investment opportunity exists in potential mispricing during temporary headwinds, but risks include persistent rate pressures and underperformance versus broader market indices like SPY, which returned 253.49% versus VNQ's 62.61% over 10 years.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Northrop Grumman is a defense contractor that is diversified across short-cycle and long-cycle businesses. The firm's segments include aeronautics, mission systems, defense services, and space systems. The company's aerospace segment creates the fuselage for the massive F-35 program and produces various piloted and autonomous flight systems. Mission systems creates a variety of sensors and processors for defense hardware. The defense systems segment is a long-range missile manufacturer. Finally, the company's space systems segment produces various space structures, sensors, and satellites.
Read more on NOC →The fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Real Estate 25/50 Index, an index made up of stocks of large, mid-size, and small US companies within the real estate sector. The Advisor attempts to replicate the target index by seeking to invest all of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, in order to hold each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index. It is non-diversified.
Read more on VNQ →