Image Source: Unsplash

Boeing (NYSE: BA) published yet another disappointing quarterly report on Wednesday, revealing a wider-than-anticipated loss in the period. This is the company’s 15th earnings miss out of the past 20 quarters, but the stock remains up more than 22% over the past 12 months. 

Boeing’s Defense Business Posts $924 Billion Loss

Boeing’s shares fell 2.3% at the market open on Wednesday after the world’s second-biggest planemaker reported a wider-than-expected loss in Q3. The stock was trading at $178.15 at the time of writing. The drop comes after Boeing posted a loss of $3.26 per share on sales of $18.1 billion. Analysts on Wall Street were expecting a loss of $3.18 per share on sales of $18 billion.

Boeing’s operating loss at its defense business rose to a whopping $924 billion, more than double the expected $400 million.

The jet manufacturer also trimmed its guidance for 737 MAX deliveries for the full fiscal 2023. In particular, Boeing now expects to deliver between 375 and 400 MAXs this year, down from the previous guidance of 400 to 450. On a more positive note, the company maintained its expectations for 2023 free cash flow of $3 billion to $5 billion.

Boeing’s Fundamentals Under Extreme Pressure but Stock’s Up 22% Over Past Year

The poor Q3 report marks the latest in a series of blows Boeing faced in the past couple of years. The company reported discouraging results over the past 19 quarters. During that period, its defense business made a total operating profit of $474 million on $129 billion for a margin of just 0.4%. 

Even worse, Boeing’s commercial aerospace division lost $31 billion over that run on sales of $117 billion. For a company that is a leader in its respective industry, the numbers are astonishingly bad. 

Most of the issues can be attributed to the challenging past three years, highlighted by a series of MAX issues, the travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, and supply chain constraints, among other things. 

But despite such significant headwinds, Boeing’s share price remains resilient. The stock gained over 22% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500, which rose 9% during that span. One of the key reasons investors continue to believe in the aircraft giant is the improving commercial aerospace outlook. 

The company has been ramping up its commercial airplane output, setting a record production goal of at least 57 per month by July 2025, earlier this month. 

More By This Author: