While we’ve been keeping up with a lot of things surrounding Boeing (NYSE:BA) lately, we have to remember that there are still living whistleblowers out there who are describing life at the aerospace company, and it’s not looking good. One new report notes that Boeing mechanics are now, apparently, afraid to fly on Boeing aircraft, and that revelation took shares down fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
The word came from Santiago “Showstopper” Paredes, who won that nickname thanks to his tendency to stop production after finding issues, which is pretty much what he was supposed to do. Paredes revealed that it was common practice to “bypass” managers who complained about defects. Doing so made the defects get logged into systems, and thus forced their accountability.
It got worse from there, as Paredes detailed finding as many as 200 defects in parts being prepared to ship to Boeing. Paredes also doesn’t hold out much hope for Boeing’s recent move to buy Spirit AeroSystems; he pointed out that “many of those managers are still there.” And to cap it all off, he pointed out that “many employees are afraid to fly on planes they helped build because they know how they were constructed.”
And About That Construction…
Today brought two more incidents involving Boeing planes, which underscored the dangers found therein. A flight from Spain to England noted a hydraulic fluid leak, prompting a brief loss of control. The flight was rerouted and reportedly landed safely at Manchester Airport. Given that the aircraft was just shy of 28 years old, though, age may be a more reasonable explanation for it.
But then, there was the matter of a Boeing 777 seen attempting to take off from the Milan Malpensa Airport in northern Italy. While attempting takeoff, the back end of the aircraft suddenly dropped, causing it to drag along the runway throwing out a shower of sparks and smoke. The plane returned to the airport, landing safely, around 70 minutes later.
Is Boeing Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 16 Buys, five Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 15.8% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $212.05 per share implies 15.97% upside potential.
