Boeing posts banner third quarter, sees clear skies ahead

The plane maker expects to deliver 750 airliners this year, while its backlog now totals 5,600 planes. PHOTO Boeing

CHICAGO—Boeing’s third-quarter profit rose 34 per cent on lower taxes, and the company raised its forecast for 2016 earnings, revenue and airplane deliveries.

Boeing said it earned $2.28 billion, up from $1.70 billion a year ago, even though revenue declined 7.5 per cent.

The Chicago-based company said that excluding one-time items and a tax-bases adjustment that had not previously been disclosed, it would have earned $2.81 per share. That beat the average forecast of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research, who expected $2.62 per share.

Revenue fell to $23.90 billion in the quarter but also beat the Zacks forecast.

Boeing said it expects full-year earnings from its core businesses to range between $6.80 and $7 per share, an increase of 70 cents to reflect the previously unannounced tax-basis benefit. It forecast revenue will be between $93.5 billion and $95.5 billion, an increase of $500 million from a previous prediction. Analysts were expected $94.01 billion, according to FactSet.

The company delivered 563 non-military planes in the first nine months of 2016, including 188 in the third quarter. While that pace is down slightly from 2015, the company still has a huge backlog of orders—more than 5,600 orders for planes with a combined list price of $409 billion. It added 107 orders in the third quarter.

Boeing expects to deliver 745 to 750 airliners this year, up five from its previous prediction.

Boeing’s effective tax rate in the third quarter was a negative 3.4 per cent and compared with a rate of 31.5 per cent in the same period a year ago. For all of 2016, the company expects an effective tax rate of 14 per cent, down from 23 per cent last year.

Shares of Boeing Co. rose 8 cents to $139.10 in trading before the opening bell Oct. 26. At Tuesday’s close they were down 4 per cent in 2016.