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Investing.com – Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock rose 6% Wednesday after the company surprised the Street with a profit when a loss was expected.
Airlines and their vendors including plane manufacturers have been among the worst hit in the pandemic, with parts of the world still under lockdowns of varying intensity.
With virus still raging in several countries, international and domestic travel remain restricted. As a result, analysts ruled out profit for Boeing.
Instead, the world’s largest maker of commercial planes booked $567 million in net income, a sharp reversal from the $2.39 billion loss it had registered in the same quarter last year when almost all airlines were grounded.
Boeing’s total revenue rose 44% to $17 billion.
The company’s adjusted earnings per share came at 40 cents when analysts expected it to record a loss of 81 cents on every share.
Capacity expansion by airlines to cater to booming demand after a year of the pandemic boosted revenue and revenue from services rose, too.
Boeing delivered 79 commercial airplanes during the quarter and ended the quarter with a backlog of 4,100 airplanes valued at $285 billion. The company secured orders for 200 737 aircraft from United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL), 34 737 aircraft from Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), and a total of 31 freighter aircraft.
Production of its troubled 787 aircraft will temporarily be lower than five per month and will gradually return to that rate. Boeing expects to deliver fewer than half of the 787s currently in inventory this year.
It gave an update on another troubled catalog of planes. Boeing said the 737 program is currently producing at a rate of approximately 16 per month and continues to expect to gradually increase production to 31 per month in early 2022.
The backlog at defense, space and security business was $59 billion. The company booked fresh orders for Chinook helicopters for the U.K. Royal Air Force and signed an agreement with the German defense ministry for five P-8A Poseidon aircraft.
