Bombardier Inc. is generating cash at the healthiest clip in seven years.

Free cash flow jumped 76 percent to $872 million during the fourth quarter, Canada’s biggest aerospace company said in a statement Thursday as it reported earnings. That exceeded analysts’ expectations for the closely watched figure.

The improving results underscore Bombardier’s turnaround progress under Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare after two aircraft-development programs left the company awash in debt. Having shored up liquidity, cut thousands of jobs and agreed to team with Airbus SE on the C Series jetliner, Bellemare is now working to push the company’s next big revenue generator—the Global 7000 business jet—into service late this year.

The earnings report was “well ahead of expectations across all segments,” Fadi Chamoun, a BMO Capital Markets analyst, said in a note to clients. “We sense there is greater demand momentum in business aviation and opportunities for growth beyond what is currently reflected in our forecast.”

The company’s widely traded Class B shares advanced 2.2 percent to C$3.29 at the close in Toronto on Wednesday. Bombardier has gained 8.6 percent since the start of the year, compared with a 5.4 percent decline for Canada’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index.

Exceeding Expectations

Bombardier’s free cash flow topped the $662 million average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. It was the highest for a fourth quarter since the 2011 fiscal year, which ended in January of that year.

“We are moving out of our investment cycle and into a strong growth cycle,” Bellemare said in the statement. “Our focus is on flawless execution: bringing the Global 7000 into service; delivering on our major rail projects; and closing the Airbus partnership following regulatory approvals later this year.’’

Adjusted earnings were two cents a share, surpassing expectations that the company would break even. Sales climbed 7.6 percent to $4.72 billion. Analysts had projected $4.75 billion.

Revenue is set to rise in all divisions in 2018, Bombardier said. The Montreal-based company makes trains and aircraft parts in addition to planes.

For all of 2017, free cash flow usage of $786 million exceeded Bombardier’s full-year target by more than $200 million. That enabled Bombardier to end the year with a $3.1 billion cash balance, leaving the company “well positioned’’ to break even on a cash-flow basis in 2018—a key goal of Bellemare’s turnaround plan.

‘Clear Path’

Bombardier sees “a clear path” to annual cash generation of $750 million to $1 billion by 2020, according to a presentation on the company’s website.

Separately, Bombardier said it now holds 72.5 percent of its rail business, up from 70 percent. The unit’s 2017 results – which included a 13 percent jump in revenue—outpaced the performance targets in the company’s agreement with the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, which owns the rest of the division, Bombardier said.