Boeing Stock Rises Even as Earnings Were Terrible - Barron's

Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of 60 cents a share on sales of $15.3 billion. Wall Street was looking for a 17-cent loss from $16.5 billion in sales.

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Stock in commercial aerospace giant Boeing was rising slightly in premarket trading after the company reported third-quarter results that missed analysts’ projections.

Boeing (ticker: BA) shares were about 0.8% shortly after the numbers were published. S&P 500 futures also were up slightly. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures edged lower.

Boeing lost 60 cents a share in the quarter from $15.3 billion in sales. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 17 cents a share on sales of $16.5 billion in sales.

The loss, frankly, isn’t all that big a deal. Boeing is still in turnaround mode after a couple of difficult years due to the 737 MAX grounding and Covid-19. Earnings have been volatilite and way below prior periods.

Don’t forget that Boeing delivered a surprise second-quarter profit, earning 40 cents a share. Back then, Wall Street projected a loss of 82 cents. And back in the third quarter of 2018—before the MAX and pandemic—Boeing earned $4.07 a share.

Earnings reports won’t stabilize until Boeing delivers its backlog of 737 jets produced while the plane was grounded and until Covid-19 is fully behind the world.

CEO Dave Calhoun hit on the themes of stability and turnaround in the company’s news release: “We are driving stability across our operations, investing in our future and positioning our teams to deliver for our customers as the market recovers,” adding, that “commercial market demand continues to gain traction with broad-based vaccine distribution and border protocols beginning to open.”

Boeing delivered 85 jets in the third quarter, up from 79 jets delivered in the second quarter of 2021. Of the 85 delivered in the quarter, 66 were 737 MAX jets.

Since just before second-quarter earnings were reported in July, Boeing stock was down about 6%. That’s despite a 4% jump the day earnings were reported on July 28. The S&P 500 has risen about 4% over the same span. Stock in aerospace and defense peer Airbus (AIR.France) has fallen about 3%.

Covid-19 and quality problems continue to be an issue for investors. The Delta variant slowed the pace of improvement in commercial air travel. And Boeing still isn’t delivering 787 twin-aisle jets as it works to correct small manufacturing issues.

Management hosts a conference call at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time to discuss results.

On the call, Boeing investors need some good news. Coming into Wednesday, shares were down about 2% year to date.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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