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Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of 60 cents a share on sales of $15.3 billion. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 17 cents a share on sales of $16.5 billion.
Olivier Doolery/AFP via Getty Images
Commercial Aviation Giant Inventory
Rose in pre-market trading after the company mentioned Third-quarter results that missed analysts’ expectations. However, stocks ended the day lower, because investors don’t see a clear path forward.
Boeing (ticker:BA) stock rose about 0.8% shortly after the numbers were published.
Futures contracts also rose slightly. But by the end of the day, Boeing stock closed 1.5% lower. The
fell 0.5% and
It closed down 0.7%.
For the third quarter, Boeing Lost 60 cents a share for the quarter on sales of $15.3 billion. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 17 cents a share on sales of $16.5 billion.
Losing, frankly, isn’t a big deal. Boeing is still in transition mode after a difficult few years due to grounding the 737 MAX and the Covid-19 pandemic. Earnings have been volatile and much lower than in previous periods.
Don’t forget that Boeing had a surprising profit in the second quarter, earning 40 cents a share. At the time, Wall Street expected a loss of 82 cents a share. Back in the third quarter of 2018 — before Max and the pandemic — Boeing earned $4.07 per share.
The quarterly reports won’t settle down until Boeing delivers its backlog of 737s produced while the plane was grounded, and until Covid-19 is quelled.
CEO Dave Calhoun spoke on the topics of stability and transformation in the company news release: “We are driving stability across our operations, investing in our future and positioning our teams to serve our customers as the market recovers,” adding that “commercially market demand continues to gain traction as vaccine rollout begins. on a large scale and border protocols in openness.”
Boeing Delivered 85 aircraft in the third quarter, up from 79 aircraft delivered in the second quarter of 2021. Of the 85 aircraft delivered in the quarter, 66 are the 737 MAX.
There has been some improvement, but the stock backlog remains, analyst at Vertical Research Partners Rob Stallard wrote in a note Wednesday in response to the earnings. “We still have a limited guarantee of when the 787 will be cleared by the FAA,” Stallard added. 787 not delivered while Boeing is working to fix quality issues.
The burden, not the current earnings, is the reason for the stock’s weakness. Between the second and third quarter reports, Boeing stock fell about 6%. This drop despite the 4% jump on the day profits On July 28. The S&P 500 is up about 4% over the same period. Peer stocks in aerospace and defense
(AIR.France) is down about 3% in that time frame.
Covid-19 remains a problem for all aviation investors. The delta shape has slowed the pace of improvement in commercial air travel. Although travel continues to improve. Air travel in the United States In the third quarter, it decreased by 22% compared to the pre-pandemic period of 2019. In the second quarter, this comparison decreased by 33%.
International travel is recovering as well. in the third quarter,
The volume of cross-border transactions – an agent for international travel – decreased by 14 percentage points compared to 2019. The volume of cross-border transactions fell by 18 percentage points in the second quarter of this year.
Boeing A . management hosted conference call 10:30 a.m. ET to discuss the results. On this call, analysts focused on free cash flow, demand, and the pace of delivery. In other words, Street is still focused on how the company will emerge from its recent troubles. Boeing stock, which is down 3.5% year-to-date, won’t take off until there is a clear path forward.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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