Boeing Co, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, on Wednesday posted a quarterly profit, reversing a year-ago loss, as the commercial airplane market recovered from a downturn.   

The company, which competes with Airbus, said its third-quarter net profit was $837 million, or $1.12 per share, compared with a loss of $1.56 billion, or $2.23 a share a year ago.

The results beat Wall Street expectations for a profit of $1.06 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.   

Revenue from the commercial airplane division was $8.7 billion, up 11 percent on higher airplane deliveries and services volume, the company said.   

Boeing Commercial Airplanes booked 257 orders during the quarter while 36 orders were withdrawn. The commercial order backlog amounted to 3,401 airplanes valued at $255 billion.

Revenue from the defense unit declined 6 percent to $8.2 billion on lower volume. The company reaffirmed its plan to make first delivery of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner in the first quarter of 2011. - Reuters