Boeing posts strong adjusted profit for Q1

US aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. on Wednesday posted a 14 percent rise in adjusted net profit in the first quarter on continued strong production, and it also lifted its full-year forecast.

Core earnings, which exclude certain pension and retirement costs, rose to 1.76 dollars per share from 1.73 dollars a year ago, well ahead of an average Wall Street estimate of 1.56 dollars per share, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The rise was 14 percent after excluding a benefit of 19 cents per share for a research and development tax credit recorded in 2013, it added.

On a non-adjusted basis, however, its first-quarter profit fell to 965 million U.S. dollars, down 13 percent from a year earlier, the company said.

Boeing's first-quarter revenue increased 8 percent to 20.5 billion dollars reflecting higher commercial deliveries, it said. It also beat expectations.

For the whole year, the company notched up its core earnings forecast to between 7.15 dollars and 7.35 dollars per share, up from between 7 dollars and 7.20 dollars, to reflected the benefit of a tax settlement to be taken in the second quarter.

"Disciplined execution across our production and development programs produced strong first quarter results," said Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney.

"Our outlook for the full year remains positive on the strength of demand for our fuel-efficient new commercial airplanes, our solid position in global defense, space and security markets, and our enterprise focus on meeting customer commitments, improving productivity and profitably delivering the growth in our sizable backlog," McNerney said in the statement.

Deliveries of Boeing's commercial airplanes to airlines in the first quarter increased 18 percent to 161 aircraft over a year ago, with revenue growing 19 percent year on year, according to the statement.