While it was great news for aerospace stock Boeing (BA) to land the F-47 contract, a closer look at the contract revealed a point that was even better. It turns out that the deal to make the F-47 comes with a point that Boeing seldom sees: guaranteed profit, for a while. That proved exciting news for investors, too, who sent shares up fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
The F-47 could ultimately be a $50 billion dollar deal, reports noted, and it is set up in such a way to guarantee Boeing a profit through the development phase. That is welcome news; Boeing needs profit immediately, as we have discovered from several months of layoffs and contract disputes. Some have pointed out, meanwhile, that Boeing has not had a successful military launch, or a successful commercial launch in the last 10 years.
Regardless, the F-47 represents a major step forward in military technology. While it will be a manned aircraft, it will work in conjunction with “semi-autonomous drones,” and will also boast stealth capability as well as long-range operational ability. If all goes as planned, Boeing may be making one of the biggest new names in military aircraft in a long time. Considering Boeing already makes a drone aircraft in the Ghost Bat, this development should be fairly simple.
A Boeing Rocket That Works, Apparently
That is not the only military contract Boeing has right now, either. Reports note that the United States Department of Defense recently approved the Vulcan rocket from Boeing to take the department’s satellites into space. This is the only other company allowed to run satellites for the Department of Defense: the original was SpaceX.
The United States Space Force recently certified the Vulcan, which suggests it should work out a lot better than the Starliner did, which infamously left two astronauts totally-not-stranded on the International Space Station for 10 months. Said astronauts only recently returned home.
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, four Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 7.17% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $197.83 per share implies 10.16% upside potential.
