Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. reported a steep increase in third quarter profit driving by sales gains from the company’s shipbuilding and information technology units.

Northrop reported net income of $489 million ($1.41 per share), a 62 percent jump from $302 million (86 cents) from the same period a year earlier, beating Wall Street’s expectations of $1.27 per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Sales for the Los Angeles-based company rose 7 percent to $7.9 billion, which was in line with analysts’ expectations. The company credited higher sales, higher segment operating margins and lower corporate expenses for the strong results.

Northrop boosted its guidance for 2007 earnings per share to about $5.10 on revenues of $31 billion giving shares a 2.2-percent boost in afternoon trading Wednesday to $81.26.