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Another quarter, another round of disappointing news from Bombardier Inc. While the headline concern remains whether the slightly delayed C Series transcontinental airliner can be brought into service next year, the company seems incapable of improving its profitability. Chief executive Pierre Beaudoin said the weaker-than-expected fourth quarter results were below the company's potential and promised the numbers will get better, but not until next year. Investors could be forgiven for wondering when, if ever, the company will improve its chronically-underwhelming operating performance.

A year ago, the Montreal company abandoned its goal of earning a profit of 10 per cent before taxes and interest (EBIT) in its aerospace division, saying it would earn only half that level in 2012. The company came in a bit shy of that, at 4.7 per cent for the year (compared to 5.8 per cent in 2011), and posting one of its weakest fourth quarter results in years, as it sold off a slew of used jets it took on trade-in and sold off greater numbers of its smaller, unpopular Learjets.

The really disappointing news is that there will be no improvement in 2013. But just wait until 2014, the company is saying now – that aerospace margin will leap to eight per cent, less a two per cent drag as it gets the C Series into production. That's quite a jump, and a heady promise for a company that has habitually fallen short of its profitability pledges in the division.

An even bigger disappointment is the company's train-manufacturing division. Investors knew it had problems in a few contracts in Europe and the U.S. last year that dragged down margins. Those problems were supposed to be resolved in the first half of last year but the impact was still felt in the fourth quarter and will apparently drag into 2013. There was a lot of noise in the quarter's results, thanks to restructuring charges, a flood in a facility and foreign exchange impacts. Factor all that out, however, and J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Nadol said the division's EBIT still fell short of his estimate by almost 50 per cent. After earning an EBIT margin of 7.2 per cent in each of the previous two fiscal years, the division came in at just 5.8 per cent before special items – and has delayed its goal of hitting the 8 per cent mark by one year, to 2014.

Bombardier stock remains relatively inexpensive and poised to jump if the C Series isn't further delayed. Orders have been strong and the company is sitting on a record backlog of $66.7-billion worth of revenues. But strip away the excitement about the new plane, and Bombardier is really just an industrial manufacturing firm where operating profit margins should be vigilantly watched at all times. The company has failed to hit its profit targets for years; now it's asking investors for yet another 12 months to achieve its numbers. That doesn't inspire much confidence. Why should this time be any different?

Sean Silcoff is a contributor to ROB Insight, the business commentary service available to Globe Unlimited subscribers. Click here for more of his Insights, and follow Sean on Twitter at @seansilcoff.

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