Northrop Grumman's stock has gone nowhere but up these past two years. But can itkeep the streak going? NOC Total Return Price data by YCharts. Northrop Grumman reported earnings for fiscal Q2 2015 on Wednesday. The company just barely matched sales expectations -- but it absolutely crushed it on earnings. Here's how the quarter went down: Which raises the question: How did Northrop Grumman transform a 2% sales decline -- even with slightly higher profit margins on those sales -- into a whopping 16% rise in profits? And the answer to that question is... Stock concentration Throwing caution to the wind and investing heavily in its own stock, despite the fact that it nearly doubled in price over the past two years, Northrop Grumman bought back shares hand over fist, slicing 10% off its share count over the past year.