Boeing sees earnings take dive.(Business)(Earnings)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), February, 2005

Byline: Daily Herald news services Chicago-based Boeing Co.' s fourth-quarter earnings sank 84 percent but the aerospace giant impressed Wall Street on Wednesday by forecasting a big jump in commercial airplane deliveries next year, reflecting a resurgent market and its improved prospects against Airbus.

Heavy charges for ending production of its 717 jet and writing off a controversial lost Pentagon contract for air tankers contributed to the drop to $186 million profit from $1.13 billion a year earlier, when a billion-dollar tax refund inflated results. Boeing also lost money from its commercial airplane business in the quarter on lower sales and plane deliveries. But analysts and investors cheered the company's outlook for a long-awaited upturn in the...