Boeing Co's quarterly profit rose 13 percent, topping expectations, and the company reaffirmed a full-year outlook that reflects a rebound in commercial airplane orders and resilience in the face of pressured defense budgets.

The world's largest aerospace and defense company said its backlog was $329 billion, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier, and its shares rose 1.3 percent in morning trading.

(Boeing Commercial Airplanes) is still well placed, with production rates heading higher, strong order inflow and no further blow-ups this quarter on its development programs, RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Stallard said in a research note.

Defense has taken its program cancellation lumps already, and we expect its revenues and margins to be steady going forward. If Boeing can avoid execution pitfalls, we think it is well placed to progress, he said.

Boeing's first-quarter profit was $586 million, or 78 cents per share, topping analysts' average forecast of 70 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

In the year-earlier quarter Boeing earned $519 million, or 70 cents per share, after a charge of 20 cents per share related to healthcare legislation.

Revenue slipped 2 percent to $14.9 billion.

I think people are getting comfortable with the valuation, and people are getting comfortable with the recovery, said Alex Hamilton, managing director of EarlyBirdCapital.

What is clear is that this recovery is ongoing, he said.

Boeing stood by its full-year 2011 outlook. It expects revenue of $68 billion to $71 billion and earnings per share of $3.80 to $4.

Boeing, which competes with EADS unit Airbus, splits its business almost evenly between commercial airplanes and defense products. But its stock tends to track commercial airplane orders and deliveries more closely.

The commercial airplane industry is recovering from a global economic downturn that saw cash-strapped airlines curb orders.

Boeing has said it delivered 104 commercial aircraft in the first quarter, including 87 next-generation 737s, four 767 wide-bodies and thirteen 777s. Aircraft manufacturers get paid on delivery.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes' first-quarter revenue fell 5 percent to $7.1 billion on lower 777 deliveries. BCA's backlog totaled more than 3,400 planes valued at $263 billion, the company said.

Boeing repeated that first delivery for the long-delayed 787 Dreamliner was on track for the third quarter. Boeing has taken about 835 orders from 56 customers for the light-weight carbon composite aircraft, which is about three years behind its original schedule due to labor problems and snags in the global supply chain.

Boeing said delivery of the first 747-8 Freighter is still planned for mid-2011.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security's first-quarter revenue was $7.6 billion, flat with a year ago. Earlier this year Boeing snared a $30 billion Pentagon order 179 U.S. Air Force refueling planes.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson; Editing by Derek Caney and John Wallace)