The largest plane manufacturer in the world – Boeing Co. made a statement revealing that its core profits for the first quarter of 2014 rose due to steady demand for the newest jetliners. In addition, the company also increased its forecast for the current financial year and showed 615 million dollars in free cash flow. The Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Co. – Mr. Jim McNerney said that the company is focused on “significant and sustained growth”.
As reported by the Financial Times, Chief Executive Officer McNerney shared that there was still high demand for “fuel-efficient and value-creating” commercial aircraft. Mr. McNerney also added: “Global passenger traffic trends remain strong and air cargo traffic continues to gradually improve. This ongoing demand (…) reinforces our planned production rates and we believe positions us for significant and sustained growth in the years ahead.”
The companys core earnings, excluding some pension and other retirement payments, increased by 12% from 1.87 billion dollars in 2013 to 2.1 billion dollars. However, Boeing Co. shared that its first-quarter profit decreased by 13% and reached 965 million dollars due to a number of pension expenses.
Boeing Co. also revealed that its sales rose by 8.3% to 20.5 billion dollars. This result surpassed the average estimates, which amounted to 20.2 billion dollars. The increased demand for the companys new jetliners is proved by the fact that Boeing managed to deliver a record of 648 jetliners. The company also boosted its sales forecast for 2014, saying that it expects between 715 and 725 deliveries. The orders for the current financial year are also projected to surpass deliveries.
The plane maker has about 300 commercial orders for its current-generation model 777. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Boeing – Mr. McNerney, achieving a profitable increase in production of its commercial aircraft remains a paramount goal of the company. Boeing has also been focused on reducing its internal and suppliers costs.
Boeing Co. was 2.41% up to close at 130.63 per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +48.14%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 21 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Boeing Co. have a median target of 154.00, with a high estimate of 175.00 and a low estimate of 127.00. The median estimate represents a +17.89% increase from the last price of 130.63.