shares in abb ltd rose on thursday after it posted higherthanexpected profits for the first quarter lifted by a jump in orders offsetting the brunt of rawmaterial inflation and component shortages the swiss industrialtechnology company posted quarterly net profit of 604 million above expectations of 562 million according to analysts consensus provided by abb and higher than last years 502 million abbs closely watched operational earnings before interest taxes and amortization rose to 997 million ticking above consensus of 946 million orders jumped 28 on a comparable basis to 937 billion though revenue at 697 billion missed expectations of 708 billion shares at 1040 were up 61 at 3189 swiss francs however a drop in cash outflow from operating activities to 573 million was sharper than anticipated due to a higherthanexpected buildup of net working capital to support deliveries from its order backlog the zurichbased company said cash delivery will clearly be in focus going forward and i expect a solid fullyear cash flow chief executive bjorn rosengren said higher volumes and stronger pricing offset hits from cost inflation related to raw materials certain components logistics and tight labor markets abb said in its earnings release abbs quarterly orders and margin performance were strong and should ultimately matter more than a small miss on the top line soft free cash flow berenberg analysts said in a note the fact that abb kept its fullyear outlook unchanged is also encouraging as is the secondquarter expectation of sequential growth in revenue and margin especially given the fragile macroeconomic situation berenberg added abb registered consensus beats in its electrification motion and industrialautomation units with only its robotics missing expectations on not absorbing fixed costs due to semiconductor component constraints analysts at citi said still the results were encouraging on both orders and pricing and april demand appears to have started in a similar way the us bank said