“As a result, for the year, we believe our full year tax rate will be closer to 17%.”

In context

“a little over 150,000 shares of stock for $44 million during the quarter. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of over $2.1 billion. That brings us to a net debt position of $7.2 billion, down over $700 million from last quarter. As a reminder, we have an additional $500 million of fixed rate notes maturing in the fourth quarter that we plan to repay with cash on hand. Net interest expense in the quarter was $82 million, bringing interest expense for the first nine months of the year to $248 million, down from $265 million for the same period in 2023. Finally, the tax rate in the quarter was 16.5%, bringing the rate for the first nine months to 17%. The rate was slightly lower than expected, principally due to increased U.S. and foreign tax credits and benefits and other timing items. As a result, for the year, we believe our full year tax rate will be closer to 17%. Now let me turn it back over to Phebe for some final remarks. Phebe N. Novakovic: Thanks, Kim. In light of the things I have just discussed, let me give you some clarity for the remainder of the year. The figures I am about to give you are all compared to our July update, which will be posted along with today's guidance on our website. In Aerospace, we expect sales to be about $12.3 billion with a 13.2% margin. We are expecting 150 versus 160 deliveries with 10 of the deliveries slipping into next year. This will, of course, benefit next year. With respect to the defense businesses, Combat Systems and Technology remain unchanged from July. Marine Systems revenue should be about $13.9 billion with margins of 6.9% for all the reasons I've previously noted. On a company-wide basis, we see an”