Aerospace stock Boeing (BA) has made a lot of advances in safety of late, most of which were required of it following a set of accidents. One of the latest such advances recently went into review at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): a redesigned crew-alert and angle-of-attack system. Boeing’s investors took the news well, and sent shares up modestly in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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The FAA started its review recently, which is part of a larger evaluation process that will help the 737-10 ultimately get certified. Since the 737-10 has been delayed for quite some time now, getting the aircraft certified will represent a major step forward for Boeing overall. Plus, the system will also end up as part of an upgrade for the entire 737 MAX product line, reports note.
The new system includes a “…synthetic enhanced angle-of-attack system,” along with new systems that allow warnings to be disabled in some cases. Specifically, stall-warning and overspeed alerts, reports note, which can actually be safely disabled under certain circumstances. The FAA will evaluate the systems to ensure that they line up with safety regulations previously put in place after the aircraft certification process got overhauled following two major Boeing crashes.
A Big New Contract
This news was excellent for Boeing, getting it one step closer to a major new certification. But Boeing also had great news in the short term, as it landed a $930.77 million contract with the United States Navy to address the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and help keep its service life up. The contract covers 60 aircraft, but will allow the Navy to use the jets from the current service life of 6,000 hours to nearly double that figure at 10,000 hours.
Not only will the Super Hornets get upgrades and repairs accordingly, but they will also get Block III avionics systems included, reports note. The next fighter, the F/A-XX, is still up in the air right now, so the Navy wants to be sure the current crop of Super Hornets will be able to continue flying and fighting, if needed, into the 2030s and possibly the early 2040s.
Is Boeing a Good Stock to Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 14 Buys, two Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 19.75% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $249.93 per share implies 19.82% upside potential.
