(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. climbed after surging cash flow and an improved outlook soothed shareholder concerns over production stumbles with the company’s best-selling 737 jets.

Free cash flow jumped 37 percent to $4.1 billion in the third quarter, Boeing said in a statement Wednesday, far surpassing the $1.9 billion average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The Chicago-based planemaker also reported earnings that beat estimates, raised its profit forecast for this year and predicted that sales would reach a record $100 billion.

“The cash is the cash, you can’t deny it,” said Ken Herbert, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.

The results spotlighted the strength of Boeing’s commercial-aircraft business as the world’s largest aerospace company benefits from booming global demand for air travel. Investors had had low expectations for the third quarter after supplier strains left dozens of unfinished 737 jetliners, the company’s main source of profit, parked around a Seattle-area factory.

The shares climbed 2.7 percent to $359.52 at 10:25 a.m. in New York, the biggest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Boeing rose 19 percent this year through Tuesday, bucking a selloff that afflicted other industrial titans such as 3M Co., Caterpillar Inc. and DowDuPont Inc.

Jetliner Strength

Shareholders have increasingly focused on free cash flow since since Boeing plows an equivalent amount into stock repurchases and dividends.

There were indications the commercial airplane business remains robust despite the headline-grabbing 737 factory snarls, which have forced the company to spend more on completing dozens of the undelivered narrow-body aircraft.

Boeing reaffirmed that it would deliver between 810 and 815 airliners this year, despite a slowdown earlier in the third quarter. The Chicago-based manufacturer had handed off 568 commercial aircraft to customers as of the end of September.

For more on how Boeing is the big exception to earnings gloom, click here

The operating margin for the commercial division, which generates about two thirds of Boeing’s sales, rose 3.4 points to 13.2 percent, moving toward the mid-teen goal set by Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg. The figure was 13.3 percent for the company’s global-services business.

Defense Charges

The defense unit posted a 13 percent sales gain but had an operating loss equal to 4.3 percent of sales after taking one-time accounting charges.

The division took a $64 million writedown on the KC-46 military tanker, which is already two years behind schedule. It also had a $691 million charge for costs that are expected to exceed revenue for two military contracts Boeing won in September: a refueling drone for the U.S. Navy and a next-generation trainer jet for Air Force pilots.

“When you peel it apart, I thought it was a mixed quarter,” Herbert said.

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