It was good news and bad news for aerospace stock Boeing (BA) today, as the long-awaited deal has finally come to fruition. The good news is that Boeing just sold a whole lot of planes in China. The bad news is that it was not half as many as originally hoped. The gulf between expectation and reality hit investors hard here, and they sent Boeing shares down over 2% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Meet Samuel – Your Personal Investing Prophet
- Start a conversation with TipRanks’ trusted, data-backed investment intelligence
- Ask Samuel about stocks, your portfolio, or the market and get instant, personalized insights in seconds
Boeing hoped to sell 500 jets to China, but only managed to sell 200 after all. There may be some hope for a larger order than expected to emerge in the end, though, as it was unclear if this was China’s entire order or if this was merely China’s narrowbody order, or merely its widebody order.
But President Trump made it clear that a big order was coming regardless. While 200 airplanes may not sound like an especially big order, it is roughly 3% of Boeing’s entire commercial backlog. By the end of April, reports noted, Boeing had a backlog of 6,807 aircraft. The idea that China will see any of these planes delivered any time soon seems like a bit of a long shot, but committing to the order regardless is a big step forward for all concerned.
Check out the Cockpit
Meanwhile, for those who want to see a bit of aviation history, head on out to the California Science Center, to see the front portion of a Boeing 747-400 set in Exposition Park. This is the first of more than a dozen such aircraft coming to the museum’s expansion, which is set to measure around 200,000 square feet by the time it is done.
Some of the aircraft involved have already been suspended from the building’s ceiling, where they will be involved in teaching important engineering principles. Meanwhile, the 747 was recovered from an “aircraft graveyard” located in Arizona, where it was brought to the museum, reassembled, and given a fresh paint job to show off just what a 747 cockpit looked like back then.
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 15 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 16.66% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $273.86 per share implies 17.55% upside potential.
