Bombardier Inc. posted a lower-than-expected third-quarter profit Thursday, hurt by a weak performance in its aerospace division.

Bombardier, the maker of the CRJ900 jet, reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results hurt by a weak performance in its aerospace division.Bombardier, the maker of the CRJ900 jet, reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results hurt by a weak performance in its aerospace division. (Bombardier Aerospace)

The Canadian plane and train maker said it earned $143 million, or eight cents a share in the quarter that ended Oct. 31, down from $168 million, or nine cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.

Revenue was $4.0 billion, down 13 per cent from $4.6 billion for the same quarter a year earlier.

The average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of just under $152 million, or nine cents per share and revenue of $4.5 billion.

Bombardier Aerospace's revenues fell to $1.8 billion from $2.1 billion and Bombardier Transportation revenues were $2.2 billion, down from $2.5 billion.

The performance of the aerospace division remained weak as orders for corporate jets lagged as companies recuperated from the effects of the downturn in the global economy.

"The environment in Aerospace remained difficult with leading indicators sending mixed signals as to the timing of a full recovery," Pierre Beaudoin, president and CEO said in a release.

"As the global economy firms up, our product strategy will position us well to expand our market share as well as to increase our penetration of emerging markets."

Beaudoin said the development of the company's CSeries aircraft is on schedule with deliveries set to begin for its CRJ 1000 NextGen aircraft in the fourth quarter.

"The recovery that we've been experiencing for the last year or so needs to continue and eventually the orders will come," said David Tyerman, managing director in research at Canaccord Genuity in Toronto.

He expected Bombardier's third-quarter results to be weaker than historical results, predicting earnings of seven cents per share. The company disappointed some industry observers when it failed to announce any CSeries sales at a recent air show in China. It also failed to get any orders at last summer's Farnborough Airshow in Britain.

So far, it has 90 firm orders for the CSeries and options for 90 more. The plane is slated for delivery beginning the end of 2013.