CHICAGO – Boeing Co. shares rose Wednesday after the aircraft maker forecast better-than-expected earnings and revenue in 2018.
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Along with rival Airbus, Boeing is benefiting from demand for new airliners that has created huge backlogs lasting several years. Aircraft deliveries are generating immediate cash faster than Wall Street expected.
In morning trading, Boeing Co. shares were up $20.54, or 6.1 percent, to $358.25.
Boeing’s fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled from a year ago, to $3.13 billion, helped by strong deliveries and recent tax legislation.
Stripping out certain items, the company said core earnings were $4.80 per share. That beat the $2.91 per share forecast from analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose to $25.37 billion from $23.29 billion, beating analysts’ prediction of $24.83 billion.
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Commercial airplane deliveries rose 13 percent to 209 airplanes.
Boeing, which is headquartered in Chicago, expects 2018 adjusted earnings between $13.80 and $14 per share and revenue in a range of $96 billion and $98 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of $11.91 per share and revenue of $93.36 billion.
Cai von Rumohr, an analyst for Cowen and Co., said investors should like the strong fourth-quarter results, the 2018 forecast, and progress in controlling costs for the 787 “Dreamliner” airplane.
Boeing is speeding up production of its workhorse 737 plane and the 787 to take advantage of strong demand. The company finished 2017 with a backlog of about 5,800 airliners with a list value of $488 billion.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BA
