US$22.6bn Boeing Q1 results reveal 2% increase in income, but 9% drop in net profit

Compared to first quarter results in 2015, Boeing’s turnover for the first quarter 2016 rose to US$22.6bn, an increase of 2%. Non-GAAP core earnings per share at US$1.74 reflected a solid core operating performance which offset an after-tax charge of US$156 million (US$0.24/share) on the KC-46 tanker program in order to maintain schedule with concurrency between late-stage testing and transitioning to initial production. GAAP earnings stood at US$1.83/share.
According to Boeing’s chairman, president and CEO Dennis Muilenburg, “Higher year-over-year deliveries of military aircraft and continued solid operating performance on core production programs drove revenue growth and strong cash flow for Boeing in the first quarter. This performance enabled our ongoing investments in new product innovation and in our people, and the return of significant cash to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends.
“Overall, we are pleased with our performance trends and our outlook for the year remains positive. On the tanker program, we are making the investments necessary to meet our customer commitments, deliver the initial production aircraft on schedule, and transition the program into full production.
“Our teams are focused intensely on delivering on our existing commitments including the production ramp-up associated with our large and diverse backlog, accelerating progress on quality, safety and productivity improvements company wide, returning greater value to shareholders through profitable growth, and investing in the future as we enter our second century in business.”
The quarter’s operating cash flow was US$1.2bn which reflected production rates of commercial aircraft, a solid core operating performance and receipts and expenditures timing. 28.6 million shares were repurchased during the quarter for US$2.5bn with US$10.5bn left under the current repurchase authorization which is anticipated to be completed within the next two years. An approximate 20% increase in share dividend compared to Q1 2015 resulted in a payment of US$0.7bn.
At the beginning of the quarter cash and investments in marketable securities stood at US$12.1bn, but this was reduced to US$8.4bn by the end of the quarter, while debt remained unchanged throughout the quarter at US$10.0bn. Including net orders of US$13bn for the quarter, the company backlog dropped from US$489.0bn to US$480.0bn.