Stock Price Increased 28 Percent Over Past Year

Boeing Co. released its second quarter financial report Wednesday... and the results are quite positive for the world's number-two planemaker.

The company's quarterly profit and sales not only met, but exceeded analysts' expectations. So much so, the plane maker raised its 2007 profit forecast to $4.80 to $4.95 a share from $4.55 to $4.75, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg compiled an average of 10 analyst estimates for the company. The estimates were for second-quarter profits of $1.17 a share with sales projected at $16.2 billion.

Boeing's second quarter net income was $1.05 billion, or $1.35 a share, compared with a loss of $160 million, or 21 cents last year due to a $615 million fine levied by the government resulting from charges relating to purchasing scandals at the end of a very tough legal period for Boeing.

Part of the reason Boeing is enjoying such a positive financial picture is Chief Executive Officer James McNerney reducing the time it takes to build Boeing's best-selling aircraft, the 737. Another big factor is record orders. The backlog of orders is currently valued at $208 billion.

"The ramp-up is well under way, no question about it," said Paul Nisbet, an aerospace analyst at JSA Research in Newport, Rhode Island. "They are capitalizing on that enormous order backlog.'" He labeled Boeing's stock a "buy."

The company has recorded solid orders for 360 commercial aircraft only trailing Airbus by 153 planes. There are also 683 contracts for the fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner -- that backlog alone is valued at around $110 billion.

Boeing stock has jumped 28 percent in the past year, according to Bloomberg.

"Overall it was a good quarter," said analyst Mark Demos at Fifth Third Asset Management in Minneapolis. "They also took up guidance for the year. That is what people expected. It's now where it should be and the outlook is good."'

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.ftam.com, www.jsaresearch.com