Boeing earnings soar in Q3

[NEW YORK] Boeing earnings soared in the third quarter and the company hiked full-year forecasts on Wednesday as aircraft deliveries picked up to record levels on its huge backlog of orders.

The US aircraft maker said the commercial market continues to grow steadily, despite the global economic slowdown, but said it is also watching for signs of weakness.

Boeing reported that revenues for the period came in at US$25.85 billion, up 8.7 per cent from a year ago, translating into net earnings of US$1.70 billion, up 25.1 per cent over the third quarter of 2014.

Per-share earnings of the world's leading aircraft maker grew even faster, rising 33.0 per cent to US$2.50.

Core earnings per share, a focus of investors that excludes extraordinary items, added 17.8 per cent to US$2.52, soundly beating analyst forecasts of US$2.22.

After an equally strong nine-month performance, Boeing hiked its forecasts for the full year, with revenue to reach as much as $97.0 billion and core earnings per share running between US$7.95 and US$8.15.

That helped drive up Boeing shares 1.4 per cent to US$140.84 in trade Wednesday.

The company, whose main rival is Europe's Airbus, showed little weakness in the quarter. It said global economic growth continues at a "moderate" pace, and that passenger traffic and profits for airlines are both strong.

It noted that there are pressures in the United States to cut defense spending, which at US$7.9 billion in revenues in the quarter was about half the size of the commercial aircraft business.

But it said there are increasing opportunities elsewhere in the world to help its defense side continue to grow. During the last quarter, for instance, the Chicago-based company won an order from India for 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Japan meanwhile ordered five V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft.

In all, Boeing delivered a record 199 new commercial airplanes in the three months to September 30, including 37 Boeing 787s.

It won 166 net new orders, and ended the quarter with a backlog of orders worth US$426 billion in commercial aircraft.

On the defense side, it delivered 48 aircraft and finished with an order backlog worth US$59 billion.

AFP