Boeing sinks 10 pct after gloomy 2016 forecast

Boeing forecast lower-than-estimated 2016 core earnings, and said it expected to deliver fewer commercial planes this year, sending its shares down 5 percent in premarket trading. (Get the latest quote here.) (BA)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average component said it expects to deliver 740-745 planes in 2016, its centenary year.

Boeing delivered 762 jetliners in 2015, exceeding its target of 755 to 760 planes.

The company said it expects 2016 core earnings, which exclude some pension and other costs, to be between $8.15 and $8.35 per share.

Analysts on average were expecting $9.43 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The world's largest jetliner maker's net income fell to $1.03 billion, or $1.51 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $1.47 billion, or $2.02 per share, a year earlier.

Core earnings fell to $1.60 per share from $2.31.

The company said last week it would cut production of its 747-8 jumbo jet in half and take a $569 million charge in the fourth quarter.

Revenue fell about 4 percent to $23.57 billion.

Analysts had expected Boeing (BA) to report adjusted earnings of about $1.27 a share on $23.55 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

The company forecast full-year adjusted earnings of $8.15 to $8.35 a share, on revenue of $93 billion to $95 billion.

Boeing's quarterly report comes on the heels of an announcement last week that the airplane manufacturer will take a $569 million after-tax charge in its fourth-quarter results as it scales back production of its 747-8. Citing sluggishness in the air cargo market, the company said it will only produce one of that aircraft every two months beginning in September — from one every month previously.

"Global air passenger traffic growth and airplane demand remain strong, but the air cargo market recovery that began in late 2013 has stalled in recent months and slowed demand for the 747-8 Freighter," Ray Conner, Boeing's vice chairman, said in a statement at the time of the announcement.

The latest generation of Boeing's best-selling 737 aircraft, however, is a major cash generator for the company. It had 3,072 firm orders at the end of 2015, more than half of Boeing's 5,795-plane backlog.

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Earlier in the week, Boeing said that it had tentatively scheduled the first flight of its newest airplane, the 737 MAX, for Friday, a sign that it is on schedule for another key milestone for its top-selling plane. The Chicago-based company said it finished key development steps, readying the plane for its first takeoff. It is due to be delivered to airlines starting in 2017.

— Reuters and CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

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