Pat Shanahan, senior vice president of Airplane Programs for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Boeing earnings soared in the third quarter and the company hiked full-year forecasts Wednesday as aircraft deliveries picked up to record levels on its huge backlog of orders.

Boeing reported that revenues for the period came in at $25.85 billion, up 8.7 percent from a year ago, translating into net earnings of $1.70 billion, up 25.1 percent over the third quarter of 2014.

Per-share earnings of the world’s leading aircraft maker grew even faster, rising 33.0 percent to $2.50.

Core earnings per share, a focus of investors that excludes extraordinary items, added 17.8 percent to $2.52, soundly beating analyst forecasts of $2.22

After an equally strong nine-month performance, Boeing hiked its forecasts for the full year, with revenue to reach as much as $97.0 billion and core earnings per share running between $7.95 and $8.15.

That helped drive up Boeing shares nearly 3 percent to $143.00 in pre-market trade Wednesday.

The company, whose main rival is France’s Airbus, showed little weakness in the quarter. It said global economic growth continues at a “moderate” pace, and that passenger traffic and profits for airlines are both strong.

It noted that there are pressures in the United States to cut defense spending, which at $7.9 billion in revenues in the quarter was about half the size of the commercial aircraft business.

But it said there are increasing opportunities elsewhere in the world to help its defense side continue to grow.

In all, the company delivered a record 199 new airplanes in the three months to September 30, including 37 Boeing 787s.

It won 166 net new orders, and ended the quarter with a backlog of orders worth $426 billion in commercial aircraft.

On the defense side, it delivered 48 aircraft and finished with an order backlog worth $59 billion.

“By continuing to profitably deliver on our large and diverse backlog, we are driving strong growth in revenue, earnings and cash flow,” president and chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement.

“Solid operating performance across our commercial and defense businesses during the quarter also supported our continued investment in innovation and our people, and our commitment to return cash to shareholders.”

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