Something terrible happened out at aerospace stock Boeing (BA) today, and telling what it is is proving oddly difficult. Boeing landed a hefty new government order for trainer aircraft, the possibility of Boeing making the next carrier fighter remains , and Kelly Ortberg’s Washington run is looking pretty solid right now. But despite all of that, Boeing stock plummeted nearly 9% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
The big news was that Boeing landed an order from the United States Navy, valued at $133.5 million for training system support for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The order calls for Phase 2 software development, reports note, as well as integration and device installation support for the systems used by the South Korean government. With these systems, the South Korean government will train its pilots on the P-8A Poseidon.
The contract, reports note, will be paid for via “foreign military sales funds,” and is expected to take until October 2028 to complete. Most of the work will be done in St. Louis, at Boeing’s facility there, but some of it will be done in Pohang, South Korea. The order is being treated as a modification to an earlier order from the Navy, valued at $146 million for software and hardware updates on the P-8’s training systems, reports noted.
“Profound Changes”
With the F/A-XX contract as yet undecided, at last report, it is no surprise that Kelly Ortberg is heading back to Washington to keep the government happy. And while we had a pretty good idea what he would be bringing up when he got there, he formally delivered the remarks in question, noting “profound changes” at Boeing
This was the first time that Ortberg has faced Congress since his installation as CEO back in August. And he faced all sorts of questions, as well as offers for aid. Committee Chair Ted Cruz, for example, promised Boeing an “open door” for opinions from anyone at Boeing, from leadership clear down to factory line. Ortberg even left open the possibility of a “corporate monitor” directly established at Boeing itself.
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 12 Buys, five Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 16.2% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $196.13 per share implies 28.3% upside potential.
