Boeing profit rises

Boeing Co said on Wednesday that a pension expense larger than Wall Street had anticipated would weigh on its 2012 earnings, but it handed investors good news with expectations for increased commercial aircraft deliveries this year. Plane-maker Boeing Co on Wednesday said its quarterly profit rose on stronger commercial airplane deliveries. Fourth-quarter net profit amounted to $1.4 billion, or $1.84 per share, up from $1.2 billion, or $1.56 per share, a year earlier.
The company, which competes with Airbus for orders, said revenue rose to $19.6 billion from $16.6 billion a year ago. Revenue for Boeing's commercial planes division increased by 31 percent to $10.7 billion. Revenue for its defence, space and security business rose 4 percent to $8.5 billion.
Boeing said it expected to earn between $4.05 and $4.25 per share in 2012 on revenue of $78 billion to $80 billion. The world's largest aerospace and defense company said the expense would amount to 83 cents per share, and it forecast earnings, including the expense, of $4.05 to $4.25 per share on revenue of $78 billion to $80 billion. Analysts, on average, had expected 2012 earnings of $4.96 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S
Boeing gave the outlook as part of its fourth-quarter earnings report, which showed higher-than-expected profit on the strength of its commercial airplane deliveries. "People had been expecting the pension expense was going to go up, but the amount of the increase was more than I was looking for," said Kenneth Herbert, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. "I was looking for something in the range of 50 cents." Shares of Boeing, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, were up 0.47 percent at $75.72, after an earlier decline that took its shares to $72.85. Excluding a favourable tax settlement of 52 cents per share, the company earned $1.31 per share, beating an average Wall Street forecast of $1.01, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.