It has been one disaster after another for airplane maker Boeing (NYSE:BA), and I’m not talking about the last several months. No, I’m talking about the last several hours. Yet, investors remain optimistic in the face of this onslaught and sent shares up fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
First, a new whistleblower emerged, as a former quality manager for Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) detailed issues around the 737 MAX. Santiago Paredes, the whistleblower in question, had been given the derogatory nickname “Showstopper” for the sheer number of times he’d delayed orders from shipping over quality issues. And Paredes had plenty to say about the 737 MAX; he noted Boeing knew about defective fuselages coming out of Spirit for years, calling it “a recipe for disaster” and “…just a matter of time before something bad happened.”
Spirit AeroSystems managers reportedly required Paredes to speed up his inspections by “being less specific about where exactly he was finding issues with fuselages.” Paredes responded by calling the request “unethical” and was subsequently removed from his leadership position. He was reinstated but ultimately left in 2022, sick of fighting.
And Then It Got Worse
Meanwhile, in the background, Paredes and the other whistleblowers were quietly being proven right. A Boeing 737 about to take off from a Senegalese airport skidded off the runway before catching fire. A Boeing 767 landed at an Istanbul airport without the benefit of landing gear, skidding to a stop on its nose. And just to top it all off, Boeing confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attempt that sought $200 million in payment from the company. No part of that list is welcome news. The entirety of that list, meanwhile, is something of a disaster in its own right.
Is Boeing Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 15 Buys, eight Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.92% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $222.48 per share implies 22.72% upside potential.
