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Bloomberg
Boeing Co soared after reporting a record cash gush for 2018 and cracking the $100 billion sales barrier for the first time in its 102-year history — and the US planemaker says the best is yet to come.
Sales, earnings and cash are all poised to rise this year, building on fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The lone blemish: Free cash flow of $2.45 billion in the last three months of 2018 missed the $2.52 billion average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The upbeat forecast shows that Boeing still sees room for improvement as it works to overcome factory stumbles in its jetliner business and speed output of its cash-cow 737 planes. Boeing and Airbus SE, its European rival, are riding high on a historic sales boom rooted in low interest rates and a growing middle class, particularly in Asia. “There’s a very strong guide and no hint that there’s anything that could derail this,†said Ken Herbert, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.