Boeing Slides as Commercial Losses Overshadow a Revenue Beat

Boeing shares fell 10.7 percent on Tuesday. The close was $168.18. The third-quarter report behind the drop was a study in mixed signals: revenue beat forecasts and the order backlog hit a record, yet the company posted a wider loss than Wall Street expected and still is not making money on the commercial jets at the center of its business.

The loss came in wider than forecast

For the quarter that ended September 30, Boeing reported revenue of $24.19 billion, up 4 percent from a year earlier and ahead of analyst estimates. The profit line is where it disappointed. The core loss, Boeing’s preferred measure, was 34 cents a share, wider than the 21-to-24-cent loss analysts had penciled in. On a GAAP basis the company lost $116 million, or 26 cents a share. Both figures were a small fraction of the $7.47 core loss it booked a year ago, when heavy charges gutted the results, so the quarter was an improvement the market chose not to reward.

Boeing’s three operating units pulled in different directions. Commercial Airplanes, still the core of the company, brought in $10.72 billion, down 3 percent, and ran an operating margin of negative 6.5 percent. The company pinned that loss on a less favorable mix of deliveries and higher projected costs tied to future production-rate changes. Defense, Space & Security climbed 15 percent to $7.94 billion. Global Services added $5.57 billion, up 4 percent. Free cash flow came to a positive $464 million, and the backlog reached a record $745.4 billion. Boeing held $20.7 billion in cash and marketable securities against $45.9 billion of debt.

The commercial line is the sticking point

The commercial business is where the turnaround has to show up, and Tuesday’s reaction suggested investors wanted faster progress. Boeing is still working to run its 737 line steadily at 47 jets a month, the rate it has been targeting, and has not yet locked that in. Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg told analysts the effort is taking longer than expected. That rate is the one investors watch.

The sell-off showed how patience has thinned. Tuesday’s slide left the stock about 30 percent below its high of the past three months and at its lowest close in that span, and it is now down nearly 9 percent over the past month. Roughly 47 million shares traded, more than six times the recent daily average. On a down day, volume like that is the market changing its mind in a hurry.

On the schedule

A few dated items sit ahead. Boeing said the smallest member of its MAX family, the 737-10, won the type certification it needed in October, and that the larger 777-9 remains on track for a first delivery in 2027. The company also said the U.S. Navy picked it to design and build the next carrier-based fighter, the F/A-XX, an award Boeing noted is not yet in its backlog while the selection is reviewed. None of that lands in the current quarter. All of it feeds the order book the company is counting on to carry the recovery forward.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.