Demand for planes boosts Boeing's profit
Boeing's fourth-quarter profit rose 26 percent as it delivered more commercial airplanes -- a speedup that it says will continue this year.
However, Boeing ( BA) shares dropped in
premarket trading Wednesday after it said 2014 revenue and profit would be
lower than analysts have been expecting.
Boeing finished 2013 with a
fourth-quarter profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.61 per share, well ahead of the
expectation of analysts surveyed by FactSet. Profits grew in both its
commercial airplane and defense businesses.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $23.79 billion.
Boeing has sped production of both its
workhorse 737, as well as its new 787. It expects to deliver 110 787s this
year, up from 65 last year. Earlier this month Boeing said it began building
787s at a rate of about 10 per month.
Boeing's profits are benefiting from
the surge in deliveries, but not as much as analysts had hoped. On Wednesday it
said so-called "core" earnings, which exclude certain items, would be
$7 to $7.20 per share, with revenue of $87.5 billion to $90.5 billion. Analysts
surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a profit of $7.52 per share on revenue
of $92.72 billion.
For all of 2013, Boeing earned $5.96
per share on revenue of $86.62 billion.
In premarket trading, Boeing shares
fell $3.36, or 2.5 percent, to $133.73.