Boeing profit up on strong sales

Boeing Co posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by an increase in commercial airplane deliveries, and the world’s largest aerospace and defense company raised its earnings forecast for the year. The news from Boeing, which makes commercial airplanes and military products, sent its shares up more than 2 per cent in premarket trading. The company is raising production rates on commercial airplanes to meet increased demand while battling defense budget constraints. “As of late, investors have turned Boeing into an execution story, and execute they did,” said Alex Hamilton, managing director of EarlyBirdCapital. “We believe investors should be pleased given the performance of all sectors, including defense, which is highly impressive given the backdrop of the defense budget,” Hamilton said. Boeing’s first-quarter net profit rose to $923 million, or $1.22 per share, from $586 million, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding a gain from resolved litigation, earnings were $1.11 per share, beating the analysts’ average estimate of 94 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Boeing declined to identify the litigation. Earlier this month, a California appeals court threw out Pendrell Corp’s potentially $775 million victory against Boeing in a lawsuit over launch and satellite contracts between the two companies. Boeing had been setting money aside in case of an unfavorable ruling, but the outcome made this provision unnecessary. Shares of Boeing were up 2.4 per cent to $75 in premarket trade after the results. The company, which competes with EADS unit Airbus for orders, said revenue rose 30 per cent to $19.4 billion, topping expectations for $18.4 billion. Boeing said its order backlog at the end of the quarter was $380 billion, up from $356 billion at the beginning of the year. The company raised the upper end of its 2012 profit forecast to $4.35 a share from $4.25 while keeping the low end at $4.15. It affirmed its 2012 revenue outlook of $78 billion to $80 billion.