Just when aerospace stock Boeing (BA) looked like it was going to get its supply chain back up and running properly, along comes reality to slap it across the face. A fire at SPS Technologies sent Boeing into a tailspin, scrambling to replace a key supplier of various fasteners. The news did little good for Boeing’s share prices, as investors dropped it over 2.5% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
SPS Technologies, reports note, makes a set of fasteners that are vital for Boeing aircraft. Worse, the company was Boeing’s only source of these products, which means that Boeing is having a tough time finding a replacement for them, reports note. While many of the fasteners look like bolts, of the kind that can be found at any hardware store, these fasteners need to be able to handle the stresses of air travel.
The fire comes right as Boeing was finally getting its production lines back up to snuff, a development that has to be galling for CEO Kelly Ortberg. But Ortberg has high hopes, noting that the supply chain team would “…do yeoman’s work to get a recovery plan in place.” Ortberg also optimistically pronounced, “We’ll get through it.”
Brutal Feedback Wanted
Meanwhile, in a move Boeing may later regret, CEO Kelly Ortberg also called on the rank and file to provide “brutal” feedback to their managers. Word from the Seattle Times, who got a copy of remarks Ortberg made live in St. Louis and by webcast elsewhere, notes that Boeing employees voices “…need…to be heard.”
With employees noting that anyone who brings up a problem with management is subsequently treated as a problem by management, it is clear that some changes could take place. Indeed, the live event Ortberg headed featured employees asking what they should do when complaints to human resources fail to solve problems. Ortberg’s remarks may be too little too late, however, as one Renton mechanic revealed that employees were not only too busy working to listen to the remarks in the first place, but would largely disregard them as “a box to tick” to begin with.
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 13 Buys, five Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 21.96% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $196.88 per share implies 23.94% upside potential.
