Despite lingering fears over cuts to the U.S. defense budget and the predicted cyclical slowdown in the heavy equipment industry, Falls Church, Va.-based Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC ) recently announced two definitive moves that will return capital to its shareholders and could boost its stock price over the long term. The first involves the expansion of a share repurchase program that will eventually authorize the buyback of $5 billion in Northrop shares. The second concerns a substantial boost to the company's quarterly dividend. Taken together, these moves suggest that Northrop's management team has some confidence in the company's ability to weather the coming storm. Although the company was already regarded as something of a "conservative cyclical" that attracts value-minded investors, it is likely to boost its reputation as a value play even further. Investors who wish to gain exposure to a major defense and aerospace contractor would do well to investigate this situation.