And so it goes, once more, that the Starliner astronauts currently on the International Space Station (ISS), sent up by aerospace stock Boeing (BA), will find their homecoming delayed. The return flight that was supposed to take place in February has now been pushed back to March, at least, noted CBS News. Investors, meanwhile, seem oddly happy about this, and sent shares up over 2% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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In a move that’s eerily reminiscent of Gilligan’s Island, what started out as an eight to 10 day voyage quickly turned into an eight to 10 month odyssey of delay after delay. But the voyage looked like it was finally coming to an end when SpaceX was poised to step in for Boeing, getting a Crew-9 Dragon capsule into space to dock with the ISS and bring Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore home.
But news emerged today that that replacements for Wilmore and Williams will not launch until at least March 2025 now as “…NASA and SpaceX teams (needed) time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission.” The Crew-9 will not be able to leave the station until after a “handover period” with the Crew-10. That “handover period” allows for the two crews to share any lessons learned during the excursion and “…support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex.”
Back to Work
Meanwhile, Boeing’s terrestrial operations, according to a Reuters report, are getting back up and running. The report noted that all of Boeing’s plane lines are back in production—which is probably why shares got the bump they did today—including the 737 Max and both the 767 and 777 lines, including the 777X.
Boeing was careful about its restart plans, especially given that the Federal Aviation Administration is still riding herd on the operation. But after a series of measures to bring everyone current on training and various certifications, Boeing is about as ready as it can be to get its lines back up and running. And not a moment too soon, either; only last week, Boeing revealed it had delivered just 13 jets for all of November.
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, seven Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 33.01% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $189.41 per share implies 7.82% upside potential.
