Bombardier to report third quarter results Thursday; analyst weighs in

A financial analyst is expecting Bombardier to post $5 billion in revenue and 9 cents in earnings per share in the third quarter when it announces its financial results on Thursday.

The analyst, Peter Arment with Sterne Agee, has modeled aerospace revenue up 40 percent year over year, tied to higher aircraft deliveries.

The firm estimated that Bombardier’s third quarter deliveries will total 75 aircraft, including 53 business jets and 21 commercial aircraft. That’s up 30 planes from the same time a year ago, Arment wrote in a note to investers.

For the year, Bombardier is expected to deliver about 200 business aircraft and 80 commercial aircraft, compared to 180 business aircraft and 54 commercial aircraft in 2013.

Bombardier’s reorganization announced earlier this year, which will reduce its aerospace employment by 1,800 people, or 5 percent, should help increase margins, Arment wrote.

“However, this change, in our opinion, will likely result in further changes in the development programs (Lear 85, Global and CSeries) time line,” he wrote.

The delayed Learjet 85, Bombardier’s largest Learjet to date, is in flight test, but Bombardier officials have not yet given a revised time line of when the plane will enter service.

The CSeries resumed flight testing with the second aircraft in early September, following an engine fire in May that grounded all four test aircraft, Arment noted.

The three-month delay has eliminated the buffer in the schedule, which will likely result in further delay to the entry-into-service date, he wrote, given that there are always “unknowns” that come up during a flight test program.

Bombardier’s order book for the CSeries remains a concern with 243 firm orders, Arment wrote.

Better demand for business jets, however, helps the company, he said.

This story was originally published October 29, 2014 at 10:53 AM with the headline "Bombardier to report third quarter results Thursday; analyst weighs in."