Top Boeing executives gave an upbeat forecast of the company's future prospects this morning, but disappointing results in the most-recent quarter has got Wall Street pushing down the share price this afternoon.

Boeing announced a second-quarter profit of $852 million, which was down from its profit of $1.05 billion in the same quarter last year. Revenues were down a fraction of a percentage point, falling to $16.96 billion from $17.03 billion.

On a per-share basis, Boeing's profit fell to $1.16 from $1.35.

Boeing took a 22-cent-a-share charge during the quarter to reflect penalties that resulted from it missing delivery deadlines for the Wedgetail, a 737-based airborne early-warning jet that it's developing for the Australian air force.

But even setting aside the that charge, profits wouldn't have been up much. CEO Jim McNerney and CFO James Bell said bad timing was part of the problem - the company spent a lot of money in the quarter boosting its Commercial Airplane Services programs, which are expected to generate new business once the 787 enters service.

Revenues were hurt, Bell said, because Boeing delivered a higher-than-usual percentage of 737s during the quarter, and those planes sell for less.

Both executives said they're confident Boeing's ongoing cost-cutting will improve margins during the second half of the year, and they reiterated their projection that the company will finish the year with $2.5 billion in free cash, with profits around $5.70 to $5.85 a share - even after paying penalties for delivering the 787 late.

Wall Street analysts weren't impressed with the promises, however, and shares of Boeing stock were trading down more than $2.50 a share as the trading day wound down - a drop of close to 4 percent.

On the commercial jet side, McNerney went to pains to reassure investors about the strength of Boeing's record orders backlog, in the face of continuing turmoil in the U.S. economy.

"The demand for fuel-efficient new aircraft is higher than we can supply from our production plants," he said.

A handful of U.S. airlines have pushed back deliveries of planes, McNerney said, but so far, none have cancelled any orders. No overseas airlines have asked to defer orders yet either. With Boeing's order book full up to eight years out, it's a simple matter to move delivery dates back for the U.S. carriers, while moving foreign airlines up in the line, he said.

In particular, no airlines have considered cancelling orders for the 787, Bell said. Sales are slowing, he acknowledged, but he attributed that to the fact that with 896 orders in the book, Boeing's 787 production is now booked solid for the first nine years. "We're quoting positions 10 years out."

So far this year, Boeing has continued growing that backlog, selling 1.5 new airplanes for every one jet it's delivered. Boeing plans to deliver 470 to 480 planes this year, and 500 to 505 in 2009 with more increases in 2010.

The assumption is that the delivery increases will be tied to ramp-ups in the 787 program, with deliveries in the other programs holding steady, McNerney said.

McNerney said the 787 remains on track for a first flight sometime in the fourth quarter. Testing is going well, and the first plane is almost completely assembled, with only a few systems left to install, he said.