Bombardier shares jump on smaller loss, better margins

By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) shares jumped 5 percent in morning trading on Thursday, after the Canadian plane and train maker reported a lower-than-expected adjusted net loss in the third quarter and said it would end 2016 with higher margins.

The company, which has struggled in recent years with cost overruns as it developed its CSeries commercial jet, raised the lower end of its full-year forecast for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to $350 million from $200 million, while maintaining the upper end at $400 million.

“We are in full motion when it comes to turnaround,” Chief Executive Alain Bellemare said in an interview regarding his 5-year plan to improve results.

Montreal-headquartered Bombardier revised its transportation division's 2016 revenue forecast down to $8 billion from $8.5 billion, but raised its margin forecast to above 6.5 percent.

Chief Financial Officer John Di Bert told a call with analysts that Bombardier is well placed to further increase margins.

"The margin growth is a sign of current performance and also things to come," Di Bert said.

Bombardier's reported 32 percent rise in the transport division's order intake during the third quarter ended Sept. 30 to $2.9 billion and Di Bert suggested revenue could rise in 2017.

“I think we’ve positioned ourselves well here with another solid of year of orders,” he said.

The company will not make major changes to the production of softer-selling regional jets and Q400 props or its business jets in 2017, Bellemare said.

The company forecast revenue of $16.5 billion for the year. In September, it said it expected to be close to the lower end of a $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion revenue range after it halved the 2016 delivery forecast for its CSeries mid-range aircraft.

Bombardier said last month it would cut 7,500 jobs, mostly in its train-making division, the second round of layoffs this year.

Net loss narrowed to $94 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with $4.88 billion, or $2.20 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell nearly 10 percent to $3.74 billion.

Bombardier booked non-cash charges of about $4.4 billion a year earlier.

The company posted an adjusted loss of $10 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of a loss of $92.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It broke even on a per share basis. Analysts had expected a loss of 3 cents per share.

($1 = 1.3428 Canadian dollars)

(Additional reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Bernadette Baum)