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Boeing posts loss, hurt by charges, labor strike
2009-01-28
PITTSBURGH - Boeing Co. said Wednesday it swung to a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by a labor strike that disrupted deliveries from the world's second-largest airplane maker. It also forecast 2009 earnings that missed Wall Street expectations. The Chicago-based company reported a loss of $56 million, or 8 cents per share, for the last three months of 2008, compared with profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.36 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Results were dragged down by handful of charges stemming from a two-month strike by machinists, a legal reserve and other items. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings of 78 cents in the fourth quarter. Those estimates typically exclude one-time items. Looking ahead, Boeing expected per-share earnings of $5.05 to $5.35 for 2009, short of the $5.68 expected by the same group of analysts. Boeing's revenue outlook of $68 billion to $69 billion for this year was in line with expectations. Shares of Boeing fell 2 cents to $43.20 in pre-market trading. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 27 percent to $12.68 billion as passenger and cargo jet deliveries fell by more than half as the strike paralyzed the company's Seattle-based commercial aircraft operations for 58 days through early November. Analysts had expected revenue of $13.40 billion. Boeing delivered just 50 planes in the last three months of 2008, compared with 112 planes during the same period a year earlier. On Wednesday, the company said its revenue forecast for 2009 assumed stable deliveries of in-production commercial airplanes over the next several years. Its commercial aircraft business expects to deliver between 480 and 485 airplanes. Boeing faces waning demand for its commercial jets as airlines curb spending because of the global economic crisis and a recession that's eroding demand for air travel. The company recently said it plans to cut about 4,500 positions, or about 3 percent of its work force, as a result of the worsening market conditions. Commercial jet orders declined by half in 2008, after three consecutive years of exceptionally strong growth. Still, the aerospace company has orders for a record 3,700 planes. In November, Boeing further delayed the first test flight and delivery of its much-anticipated 787 jetliner, the world's first large commercial airplane made mostly from carbon-fiber composites, blaming the strike and lingering production problems. It also delayed deliveries of 747-8 cargo and passenger jets, partly due to the strike, and deliveries of 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s as it replaces defective fasteners used to attach wiring and other components inside the planes' fuselages.
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