Give aerospace company Boeing (BA) credit; it simply does not give up. In fact, it took to CBS‘ mainstay news program 60 Minutes, noted a Barron’s report, to talk about its recent issues. And it faced down reports from a new whistleblower. But for all that, Boeing investors proved to have just as much fortitude as the company in which they invest, sending shares up over 3.5% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Boeing representatives went on 60 Minutes as the show gathered together some of the current crop of whistleblowers to interview them about their concerns about Boeing’s management and its safety record. Naturally, there were plenty of issues raised, but there was good news that came along with it. None of the issues raised during the broadcast were new, Barron’s pointed out, which meant that the old bad news had already been priced in and was likely being addressed.
In a further positive twist, Boeing is visibly not pushing back against the whistleblowers. A statement from Boeing noted, “We listened and carefully evaluated [the whistleblowers’] claims, and we do not doubt their sincerity.” However, Boeing also noted, thanks to “several years” of investigations, that “…none of their claims were found to impact airplane safety.”
“The Parts Jail”
Then, in an unexpected twist, CBS News last night brought out word about Sam Mohawk, a completely new whistleblower who spoke “…publicly for the first time about the problems he’s seen during his 13 years working in quality assurance at Boeing’s commercial airplane factories.”
Mohawk introduced us to the “parts jail” at Boeing, a place where non-conforming or even defective parts are kept. As we have heard before, Boeing’s culture required movement at all costs, and Mohawk believes that some employees, eager to keep their jobs, may have pilfered parts from the “parts jail” and installed them on Boeing planes, posing a serious potential risk.
Is Boeing a Good Stock to Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 15 Buys, six Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 35.87% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $193.38 per share implies 21.49% upside potential.
