Northrop Grumman Corp. on Thursday said that quarterly profit rose sharply on higher sales and operating margins at its ship and missile units, and the defense contractor raised its 2005 forecast.

L.A.-based Northrop reported net income of $409 million ($1.11 per diluted share) for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with $236 million (65 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenue rose to $7.5 billion from $7.2 billion in the year-ago period.

Analysts, according to Thomson First Call, forecast a profit of 91 cents a share with revenue of $7.5 billion.

Earnings included an after-tax gain of $11 million from the sale in March of Teldix GmbH, a small German military aviation firm, to aviation electronics company Rockwell Collins Inc. First quarter results also were helped along by an after-tax gain of $45 million (12 cents per diluted share) from the sale of 7.3 million shares of TRW Automotive Holdings Corp.

Revenue and operating margins rose at the company’s ships, mission systems and integrated-systems-units. Revenue was a bit lower at the information-technology group, though operating margins increased.

For the full year, Northrop expects sales of between $31 and $31.5 billion, and earnings per diluted share from continuing operations to increase to between $3.70 and $3.85, versus previous guidance of $3.60 to $3.75.

For 2006, the company anticipates sales to increase to between $32 and $33 billion, compared with its previous guidance of approximately $33 billion.