Finmeccanica lifts 2014 targets as loss narrows

* Sees 2014 new orders 13.5-14.0 bln euros

* 9-month net loss narrows tenfold to 24 mln euros

* 9-month revs rise 1.4 pct on train, Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) 787 sales (Adds details, context)

By Danilo Masoni

MILAN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Finmeccanica (Other OTC: FINMF - news) lifted its full-year targets for orders, sales and profits on Wednesday after saying its nine-month net loss narrowed to 24 million euros ($30 million) helped by higher sales from the Boeing 787 programme and non-core train business.

The Italian aerospace and defence group said better-than-expected results at its helicopter and aeronautics units and initial effects of cost cutting also boosted its results, allowing it to lift its 2014 targets.

This is the second set of quarterly results under Chief Executive Mauro Moretti, who was appointed in June by the government of Matteo Renzi in a broad management reshuffle of state controlled companies.

Finmeccanica, which is carrying out asset sales as it seeks to bring its credit ratings back to investment grade, said it now expected 2014 new orders at 13.5-14 billion euros against a previous guidance of 13-13.5 billion euros.

In a statement it also lifted its revenue and core profit targets, leaving free operating cash flow guidance unchanged.

Since Moretti's arrival, Finmeccanica has approved a plan to streamline the company and stepped up the long-delayed sale of its loss-making train making unit AnsaldoBreda and its stake in rail signalling firm Ansaldo STS (Milan: STS.MI - news) .

The sales of the rail assets could clear the way for refocusing the group's strategy on its core aerospace and defence business and a new business plan is expected to be unveiled by the end of the year.

Its nine-month net loss narrowed tenfold from a year earlier when results were weighed down by a provision on a scrapped train order, while sales rose 1.4 percent to 9.87 billion euros in spite of cuts to U.S. defence budget that drove down sales at its U.S. defence elctronics unit DRS Technologies.

Nine-month new orders rose 15 percent to 9.35 billion euros.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Finmeccanica have gained 23 percent since the start of the year after long underperforming the European index of aerospace and defence companies due to a series of corruption scandals and delays in its restructuring plan.

Eikon data show that Finmeccanica is undervalued compared to a group of peers that includes France's Thales (Paris: FR0000121329 - news) and Britain's BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) and some analysts expect the execution of asset sales to further lift its share price.

The statement on Wedenesday made no reference to the asset disposal process and investors will be keen to be updated at a conference call on Thursday.

(1 US dollar = 0.8005 euro) (Editing by Stephen Jewkes)