It was not so long ago that we heard about positive developments in Boeing’s (BA) management. But not everyone is happy with the aerospace company. In fact, Ryanair (RYAAY) CEO Michael O’Leary declared that Boeing’s new management “continued to disappoint” thanks to a growing backlog of orders that are not getting filled. As a result, shares are slightly lower in Tuesday afternoon’s trading session.
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Ryanair was set to receive 29 737 MAX aircraft ahead of next summer, but apparently may only get between 20 and 25 of them. O’Leary noted that he was “…working closely with Stephanie Pope and the new team at Boeing, but they continue to disappoint us.”
Boeing has promised to step up its output numbers by the end of the year, but given that the production cap imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration is still in place at 38 jets—not to mention potential union issues cropping up in a couple weeks—there may not be much room to maneuver.
Another Alaska Airlines Incident
In a separate development, there was recent news out of Alaska Airlines (ALK), where Boeing once again ran into trouble. On Sunday afternoon, a Boeing flight departed Seattle heading for Los Angeles. It did not get far before one of the engines shut down, and the flight limped back to Seattle about an hour later.
Boeing, for its part, did not respond to media questions, but Alaska Airlines revealed that it “…worked to take care of our guests and accommodate their travel to Oakland yesterday afternoon.” It also, unsurprisingly, apologized for the inconvenience. Perhaps Ryanair should be happy it is not getting all the planes it wanted so quickly.
Is Boeing a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
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 23.94% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $216.59 per share implies 25.16% upside potential.
