Northrop Grumman
Q2 2023 Earnings Call
Jul 27, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Northrop Grumman's second quarter conference call. Today's call is being recorded. My name is Josh, and I will be your operator today. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr.
Todd Ernst, vice president, investor relations. Mr. Ernst, please proceed.
Todd Ernst -- Vice President, Investor Relations
Thanks, Josh, and good morning, and welcome to Northrop Grumman's second quarter 2023 conference call. We will refer to a PowerPoint presentation that is posted to the IR website on the call this morning. Before we get started, matters discussed on today's call, including guidance and outlooks for 2023 and beyond, reflect the company's judgment based on information available at the time of this call. They constitute forward-looking statements pursuant to safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws.
Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those noted in today's press release and our SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties may cause actual company results to differ materially. Today's call will include non-GAAP financial measures that are reconciled to our GAAP results in our earnings release. And on today's call are Kathy Warden, our chair, CEO, and president; and Dave Keffer, our CFO.
At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Kathy. Kathy?
Kathy Warden -- Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Todd. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. As you saw from this morning's earnings release, global demand for Northrop Grumman solutions is driving exceptional growth. In the second quarter, our sales were up 9% with solid contributions from each of our four business segments.
Our ability to hire and retain talent and improving supplier deliveries are strengthening our top line. Given our year-to-date sales increase of 7% and an improved outlook, we're increasing our full-year sales guidance range by $400 million. In addition, award volume in the quarter was robust, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14. As a result, we're increasing our full-year book-to-bill projection to approximately 1.0.
Our $79 billion backlog continues to be more than two times our expected 2023 sales, supporting our long-term growth outlook. We delivered solid second quarter earnings per share of $5.34, and we're increasing the lower end of our full-year guidance range by $0.20. And free cash flow was healthy in the quarter, more than $1 billion higher than Q2 of last year, positioning us well for our full-year target. Turning to the budget environment and starting with the U.S.