So, aerospace company Boeing (BA) is down fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading, once again, and there’s at least one good reason for that. Not only have more issues emerged around Starliner but there’s also a new issue around Boeing aircraft that operate closer to Earth.
The Starliner issues begin with reports noting that NASA is set to delay the launch of Crew 9, which was supposed to go up on August 18. This would theoretically mean the Starliner astronauts would have to get out by then to make room for Crew 9. But now, the launch of Crew 9 may ultimately get pushed back to September 24. Nothing is confirmed yet, but a month-plus delay isn’t exactly a good sign for the Boeing astronauts.
In fact, reports note that a Flight Readiness Review on Starliner has been delayed following “…internal disagreements at NASA about the safety of Starliner.” Oh, and one other point that doesn’t help: apparently, Starliner’s software is incapable of “…performing an automated undocking from the space station and entry into Earth’s atmosphere.” That suggests it’s going down with someone on board or not at all.
Meanwhile, Closer to Earth…
The hits just keep on coming for Boeing, who dispatched executives to testify about the Max 9 door plug disaster back in January that, in many ways, kicked the whole thing off. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hearing on the matter is set to run 20 hours, and reports note it will cover a range of topics.
Topics to follow include FAA oversight, safety and quality management issues, the 737 manufacturing and inspection process, and more. And with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) not allowing Boeing to see the information it produces during its own investigations, some of this over the next 20 hours might prove a bigger surprise than anyone expects.
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, four Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 30.43% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $218.00 per share implies 30.95% upside potential.
