Despite billions of dollars worth of orders, most aerospace companies saw their shares fall during the Paris air show last week amid exchange rate concerns and the fact that stocks had already risen ahead of the event.

Boeing shares breached the $100 level before the air show, racing up to a record high of $100.96 on May 31.

Similarly, EADS shares reached a peak of 25.95 euros before the Paris event, which represented the stock's highest level since early March.

However, Boeing fell around 2 percent while EADS lost around 1 percent during the actual event, despite both companies announcing a glut of orders.

It's a classic case of buy on the rumor and sell on the news, said Ion-Marc Valahu, head of trading at Amas Bank in Switzerland.

For EADS the company is not out of the woods yet with operational and management issues. Therefore, I am neutral on Boeing and have a sell on EADS with an 18 euro price target, he said, adding that EADS was further hampered by the high value of the euro against the dollar.

EADS's 2006 profits slumped on the back of delays to the A380 superjumbo of its planemaker unit Airbus.

The company's plans to cut 10,000 jobs have also sparked anger among powerful trade unions in France and Germany, countries which have key stakes in EADS.

The best-performing stocks were French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation which both rose by more than 2 percent.

U.S. investment bank Jefferies & Company Inc continued to recommend the aerospace and defense sector.

We continue to recommend aerospace and defense equities with exposure to civil aircraft demand and the U.S. army's longer-term recapitalization and modernization needs.

The magnitude of new order activity at the Paris Air Show reinforces our expectations of a strong year for new aircraft orders, it added.

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