Northrop Grumman Corporation vs Western Digital Corp — how do they compare? Northrop Grumman Corporation trades at $481 (market cap $68.83B), while Western Digital Corp trades at $391.65 (market cap $147.23B). The key difference: Western Digital Corp is far larger — about 2.1× Northrop Grumman Corporation's market cap, and Northrop Grumman Corporation pays the higher dividend (2.04%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals — on Pluang, investors hold Northrop Grumman Corporation for 81 Days and Western Digital Corp for 37 Days on average.
| NOC | WDC | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $68.83B | $147.23B |
Volume | 1,081,989 | 9,341,468 |
Sector | Industrials | Technology |
52-Week High | $768.02 | $746.23 |
52-Week Low | $473.46 | $113.13 |
Typical Hold Time | 81 Days | 37 Days |
Enterprise Value | $82.81B | $146.70B |
Dividend Yield | 2.04% | 0.15% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Northrop Grumman (NOC) trades at $479.00, up 1.17% with a bearish technical signal despite strong fundamentals. The stock shows consistent earnings beats with Q2 2026 EPS of $7.68 exceeding expectations, supported by a robust $104.7 billion backlog and expanding defense budgets. Recent news highlights both competitive pressures from Boeing's $20B fighter contract win and positive developments in F-35 radar demand.
The investment outlook remains positive with analyst consensus at $600.62 (25% upside) and 54% buy ratings, though technical indicators suggest near-term pressure. Key risks include contract competition and execution challenges on major programs like the B-21 bomber, while strong cash flow generation and dividend growth provide shareholder support.
Western Digital (WDC) trades at $405.21, down 1.42% amid recent sector volatility. The stock shows strong fundamentals with a P/E of 14.61 and impressive profitability metrics including 71.97% net income margin and 131.02% ROE. Recent earnings have consistently beaten expectations, with Q2 2026 EPS of $3.56 surpassing the $3.31 estimate. Technical indicators show bearish momentum with the price near key support at $400, while RSI at 29.60 suggests potential oversold conditions.
Despite near-term competitive pressures from Toshiba's production expansion, WDC maintains strong analyst support with 72% buy ratings and a $647.58 consensus target. The company's dominant 40%+ market share in HDDs and AI-driven storage demand provide long-term growth catalysts, though investors should monitor pricing pressure risks in the evolving AI storage landscape.
Trailing returns across standard periods
What Pluang investors did over the last 30 days
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 →Western Digital is a vertically integrated supplier of data storage solutions, spanning both hard disk drives and solid-state drives. In the HDD market it forms a practical duopoly with Seagate, and it is the largest global producer of NAND flash chips for SSDs in a joint venture with competitor Kioxia.
Read more on WDC →