It’s bad news for aircraft maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) as the word has come in from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about Boeing’s latest quality push. The news isn’t good, but investors are taking it well, sending Boeing stock up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading. According to “…a panel of aviation authorities…” that examined Boeing’s operations, there were “…gaps between Boeing’s stated goals to improve quality and making sure that workers understood how safety culture applied to their work.”
That by itself might not mean so much—there’s been a disconnect between the C-suite and the factory floor since forever—but Boeing apparently had trouble with protecting its own whistleblowers. Those who called attention to safety issues didn’t receive much in the way of protection from Boeing, all but ensuring that future whistles would go unblown.
Problems at Boeing Go Back a Long Way
The problems in Boeing’s operations go back a long way. In fact, as far back as 2018, a senior manager named Ed Pierson decided that he couldn’t continue working on the 737 Max program any longer. He’d been watching morale fall for years, and oversight and assembly problems continue to grow. His own moves to blow the whistle—he was about to retire anyway—didn’t exactly go well, and he was ultimately called to testify before Congress.
To this day, Pierson will not fly in a Boeing 737 Max because he simply doesn’t trust them to be built correctly. He wasn’t saying that all Boeing planes were unsafe, but the Max seems to be a different story.
What Is the Prediction for Boeing Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 17 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 0.29% gain in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $262.67 per share implies 30.53% upside potential.
