Boeing Co offered an upbeat forecast on Wednesday for its quest to retake the world's top spot in commercial aviation from European rival Airbus SAS, citing a "very strong" outlook for airplane sales while upping its profit expectations for this year.
The aerospace company's shares rose US$3.31, or 4.9 percent, to close at US$71.62 on the New York Stock Exchange, approaching its all-time high of US$72.40 set in December.
Boeing said its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled as its resurgent commercial airplane division boosted revenue and profit margins.
Chicago-based Boeing also said it booked a record 1,029 orders for new planes last year, pushing the value of its airplane backlog to US$124 billion. Boeing Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney said the company plans to boost productivity through several new manufacturing initiatives to meet the brisk demand.
"Our focus is on executing that backlog better than we ever have, and increasing the backlog at the same time," he said during a conference call on Wednesday.
Analysts generally were impressed by widening profit margins at both Boeing's commercial airplane and defense units, though they cautioned that production must keep pace with demand.
"Execution is the story," said analyst Cai von Rumohr of SG Cowen Securities. "It's not just what the orders are. It's what you can make out of them."
Boeing reported fourth-quarter net income of US$460 million, or US$0.58 per share, up from US$186 million, or 23 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts were expecting US$0.44 a share, based on the consensus estimate by Thomson Financial.
The year-ago profit was depressed by heavy charges for ending production of its 717 jet and writing off its loss of a controversial Pentagon contract for air tankers.
Boeing said fourth-quarter revenue grew 7 percent to US$14.2 billion but fell below Wall Street estimates of US$14.8 billion.
Boeing's Seattle-based commercial airplane division had operating earnings of US$330 million, up from a US$149 million loss in fourth quarter 2004.
"It was obviously an excellent quarter," said analyst Mark Davis at FTN Midwest Research. "They're starting to see real leverage in commercial airplanes, both in terms of orders and manufacturing initiatives that are helping margins."
The record year for airplane bookings was buoyed by 379 orders for its fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner. The strong demand for the 787, due out in 2008, helped Boeing close the gap on Airbus.
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