Yesterday morning, the Dow jumped after Caterpiller reported blowout results. Little did the market know that just a few hours later, CAT would unleash the biggest earnings call fiasco in recent history, sending the Dow plunging as much as 600 points.

This morning it will be up to Boeing to avoid any unpleasant words during the company's earnings call, because just like CAT, BA reported Q1 earnings that smashed expectations: Q1 revenue of $23.38BN not only beat the consensus estimate of $22.23BN, but was above the highest Wall Street forecast of $22.93BN. This resulted in EPS of $3.64, more than 50% higher than a year ago, which also not only beat consensus of $2.58, but was almost a dollar higher than the top analyst estimate.

That said, much if not all of this huge beat was due to the plunge in BA's tax rate, which tumbled by more than 50% from 26.4% to 12.8% in Q1.

Looking at the business, Boeing defines its addressable market at $7.6 trillion, with Aerospace Services coming in at $2.6 trillion.

What Boeing really means is that any more wars in Syria will be fantastic for the bottom line. Even now, Boeing has a defense, space and security orders valued at $12BN, and a backlog of some $50BN.

For those who say war is bad for business, Boeing disagrees:

• Signed extension for Ground-based Midcourse Defense
• Initial contract for 28 F/A-18 Super Hornets for Kuwait
• Awarded contract for the final C-17 for India
• Contract with USAF for Joint Direct Attack Munition tail kits

It goes on:

• Awarded F-15 Saudi support contract
• Captured landing gear exchange contract for Aeromexico
• Released Self-Service Analytics to complement our digital portfolio
• Secured services contract for Royal Canadian Air Force’s Chinook fleet
• Signed new distribution agreement for T700 engines

Meanwhile, at the company's bread and butter commercial airplane group, Boeing reported that it delivered 184 airplanes – included 36 737 MAX, and won 221 net orders, valued at $18B, resulting in a backlog of $415B. That's almost half a trillion dollars.

Going back to the company's earnings, one notable observation is that while Boeing reported $3.1BN in Q1 operating cash flow, it spent more than all of this on its shareholders, repurchasing $3.0BN of shares and paying $1.0BN in dividends. As a result, Boeing debt rose by $1.4BN in Q1, hitting $10 billion while cash remained largely unchanged.

Finally, the main reason why Boeing stock is surging was its guidance, which was revised higher again, and beat consensus expectations

• Sees FY core EPS $14.30 to $14.50, estimate $14.10 (range $13.90 to $14.50)
• Sees FY revenue $96.0 billion to $98.0 billion, estimate $97.47 billion (range $96.41 billion to $98.35 billion) (BD)
• Sees FY operating cash flow $15.0 billion to $15.5 billion

The result: Boeing stock has spiked premarket, and as it is the biggest Dow member, it has managed to drag the entire Dow Jones up with it.

Full Boeing presentation below: