Yahoo Finanza Boeing Posts First Quarterly Profit Since 2019
Dow component Boeing Co. (BA) is trading at a two-week high in Wednesday’s pre-market after posting the first profit since the third quarter of 2019. The aerospace giant earned $0.40 per-share in Q2 2021, $1.12 higher than estimates, while $44 billion in revenue matched expectations, marking a 44.0% year-over-year increase. The total backlog at the end of the quarter stood at a respectable $363 billion while the company secured new orders for 234 737 airliners and 31 freighter aircraft.
Airline Industry Crosswinds
The 737 MAX is returning to the friendly skies at a rapid pace, with the delivery of more than 130 new aircraft and more than 190 previously grounded aircraft resuming service, translating into nearly 95,000 revenue flights and more than 218,000 flight hours. The company release said little about the potential impact of the Delta variant on the commercial airline industry but that’s likely to be discussed in the 10:30am Eastern conference call.
However, its isn’t all good news for Boeing, with China still withholding certification of the MAX and 787 production delays needed to address FAA mandated inspections and reworking. In addition, business travel is expected to recover at a much slower pace than leisure travel, with the Delta variant forcing many corporations to put off reintegration plans at the same time that international destinations rethink their customs requirements.
Wall Street and Technical Outlook
Wall Street consensus is mixed despite the return of the MAX 737, with an ‘Overweight’ rating based upon 11 ‘Buy’, 2 ‘Overweight’, 11 ‘Hold’, and 2 ‘Sell’ recommendations. Price targets currently range from a low of $200 to a Street-high $314 while the stock is set to open Wednesday’s session more than $40 below the median $272 target. This placement favors share gains in coming weeks, possibly dampened by continued pandemic headwinds.
Boeing posted an all-time high at 446 in 2019, just before the 737 MAX crashed in Ethiopia. The subsequent decline accelerated in the first quarter of 2020, dropping price to a 7-year low in double-digits, ahead of an uptick that ran into a buzzsaw of resistance above 200. Price action since December has tested the 200-day moving average repeatedly while accumulation has dropped to the lowest low since September 2020, when the stock was trading in the 160s. Given uncertain travel conditions, this sideways action could easily persist into 2022.
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Disclosure: the author held no positions in aforementioned securities at the time of publication.
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
