CHICAGO (AP) — Boeing reported annual revenue of more than $100 billion for the first time and shares soared after the company easily beat Wall Street’s profit and sales expectations for the fourth quarter.
The big numbers from the plane maker, which is heavily exposed to trade standoff between the U.S. and China, sent futures higher about an hour before the opening bell Wednesday.
With the airline industry also finding its footing after years of struggles, Boeing delivered 238 commercial airplanes in the quarter, up 14 percent from the same quarter last year. They delivered 806 commercial planes in 2018, up 6 percent over 2017 deliveries. Boeing expects more of the same in 2019, projecting deliveries of between 895 and 905 commercial aircraft.
Boeing Co. had net income of $3.42 billion, or $5.93. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $5.48 per share, easily topping the per-share profit of $4.52 that industry analysts were looking for, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research. Boeing reported core earnings per share of $5.07 for the same period last year.
The Chicago company’s revenue of $28.34 billion also breezed past projections of $26.65 billion and topped last year’s fourth quarter of $24.77 billion.
Boeing expects full-year 2019 earnings in the range of $19.90 to $20.10 per share, with revenue in the range of $109.5 billion to $111.5 billion.
Boeing shares took off in premarket trading, rising nearly 6 percent. Shares have been knocked during the impasse between Washington and Beijing, but they’re up 13 percent this year.
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Portions of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BA
