Aerospace firm The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) saw third-quarter earnings rise 12 percent on the strength of its commercial business. The results were better than expected and significantly lifted the company’s full year outlook. Profit rose 12 percent to $1.2 billion, or $1.51 per share, up from last year’s $1 billion, or $1.35 per share. Excluding items, adjusted profit was $1.80 per share, handily topping analyst’s average projection of $1.51 per share. Revenue gained 10.5 percent from last year jumping to $22.1 billion. The company also raised its full-year guidance to a range of $5.40 to $5.55 per share, up from a prior estimate of $5.10 to $5.30. Lower defense spending did impact the company, but was nicely offset by a substantial growth in its commercial aviation segment.

“Consistently strong operating performance is driving higher earnings, revenue and cash flow as we deliver on our record backlog and return increased value to shareholders,” said Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney. “During the quarter, Commercial Airplanes completed the first flight of the 787-9 and delivered 170 airplanes, while Defense, Space & Security maintained solid performance and captured $7 billion in new orders. Despite the uncertainty of the U.S. defense market, overall our customer-focused business strategies and disciplined execution on our programs are producing the results we expect, and our strong year-to-date performance and positive outlook allow us to increase our 2013 guidance for earnings and operating cash flow.”

Shares are trading up this morning by around 5 percent.

Construction and mining equipment company Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) was sorely impacted by significantly reduced demand for mining equipment on global scale. The company announced third-quarter earnings this morning that have slipped by more than $3 billion from last year’s third-quarter. Revenue came in at $13.42 billion, down from last year’s same quarter revenue of $16.45 billion. This was below analysts’ revenue estimate of $14.49 billion. CAT’s profit declined steeply, coming in at $946 million, or $1.45 per diluted share, down from $1.7 billion, or $1.54 per diluted share in Q3 2012. The company slashed its 2013 outlook and now expects revenues around $55 billion, dipping from a range of $56 billion to $58 billion, and EPS at $5.50, down from $6.50.

“With $11 billion coming off the top line, it has been a painful year and has required wide ranging and substantial actions across the company. Year-to-date, excluding the impact of inventory absorption, we’ve lowered costs about $700 million and reduced capital expenditures by about $400 million. We’ve continued to improve our operational performance this year, and it’s unfortunate that the improvements we’ve made have been far overshadowed by the sales decline in mining,” said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN) also announced third-quarter earnings this morning. The hospitality firm said that third-quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $1.41, an increase of 25 percent from adjusted diluted EPS of $1.13 in the third-quarter of 2012. Reported diluted EPS was $1.40, compared with $1.11 during the same quarter in 2012. Adjusted net income increased 15 percent from the prior year period. Third quarter revenues were $1.4 billion, an increase of 13 percent from last year. Adjusted net income was $187 million, or $1.41 per diluted share, compared with $162 million, or $1.13 per diluted share for the same period in 2012.

“Results for the quarter were excellent, with adjusted EPS growth of 25% and strong performance in each of our business units,” said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and CEO.  “Wyndham Hotel Group continues to expand its international footprint, Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is benefiting from recent innovations, and Wyndham Vacation Ownership continues to transform the business to an asset-light model.  Overall, we have great momentum across the company, which when combined with our disciplined capital allocation strategy, will continue to create value for shareholders.”

Shares have lost over 2 percent in this morning’s trading.

Disclosure: The author has no position in the stocks mentioned in this article, and does not intend to initiate any position in the next 48 hours.