Boeing, the world's largest aircraft maker, today posted first-quarter profits of 89 cents per share, easily beating Wall Street estimates by squeezing more profits from its sprawling aerospace empire.
The aerospace giant said it earned $762 million in the quarter before a one-time tax credit, up from $418 million, or 48 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier, when a 40-day engineers' strike slashed jet deliveries.
Revenues rose 34 per cent to $13.3 billion from $9.9 billion a year earlier.
Profit estimates among analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call had ranged from 76 cents per share to 85 cents per share, with a mean forecast of 80 cents.
Boeing stock was up $3.12, or nearly 5 per cent, at $63.75 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Boeing said its operating margin, or profits less certain expenses divided by revenues, stood at 9.2 per cent in the first quarter, ahead of its full-year 2001 goal of 8.5 per cent and near its long-term goal of double-digit margins.
Boeing's commercial airplane unit posted revenues of $8.4 billion and an operating margin of 10.2 per cent.
Boeing has predicted it will deliver 530 jetliners each in 2001 and 2002, up from 489 in 2000, and said it had nearly filled its 2001 delivery schedule and filled more than 80 per cent of its 2002 schedule.
Boeing booked 120 jet orders in the first quarter, though cancellations and conversions trimmed the net total to 93, down from 128 in the first quarter of 2000.
Cash flow totaled $850 million in the quarter and Boeing repeated its projection for cash flow of $3 billion to $4 billion in 2001 and $4 billion in 2002.