Boeing
‘s March jet deliveries surpassed Wall Street estimates. That raises the chance
Boeing
could do something investors would love to see: Beat quarterly earnings estimates.
Boeing (ticker: BA) said Tuesday it delivered 64 commercial jets in March—including 52 MAX jets and 11 wide-body, twin-aisle jets (which included seven 787s). For the first quarter, Boeing delivered 130 jets overall, a little better than the 120 Wall Street had expected and outpacing the 95 jets it delivered in the first quarter of 2022.
Boeing stock was up 1.1% just before delivery numbers were released Tuesday. The early gains came after the company said 11 Chinese airlines were operating their MAX jets. China was the last country to reintroduce the MAX into commercial service. The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and November 2020 after two deadly crashes within a five-month span.
After the deliveries numbers, Boeing stock was still up 1.1%. The
S&P 500
and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were both nearly flat.
The company also said it added 107 orders to its firm backlog in the quarter.
Investors have been expecting relatively good news regarding deliveries amid an improving commercial aerospace outlook. That’s part of the reason Boeing stock has risen about 12% so far this year and about 22% over the past 12 months.
Wall Street expects Boeing to deliver roughly 575 jets in 2023, up from 480 in 2022. Before the twin problems of the Covid-19 pandemic and the 737 MAX grounding, Boeing had delivered 806 jets in 2018.
Next up for Boeing and its shareholders will be first-quarter earnings scheduled for April 26. Wall Street is looking for a loss of 90 cents a share and $17.6 billion in sales. Boeing reported a per-share loss of $2.75 from $14 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2022.
Boeing is still working through some of its MAX- and pandemic-related issues. Just beating analysts’ loss estimate should be enough for investors. Boeing, after all, has missed Wall Street quarterly estimates in 12 of the past 15 quarters.
That isn’t typical on Wall Street—most companies beat earnings estimates. Investors are hoping the 2023 first quarter could kick off a streak of solid quarterly numbers.
Overall, Boeing added 107 planes to its backlog in Q1. Both Boeing and its rival
Airbus
(AIR.France) should see more order activity when the Paris Air Show kicks off in June.
Airbus, for its part, delivered 61 jets in March and 123 units in the first quarter of 2023. Analysts expect Airbus to deliver 725 jets in 2023, up from 661 delivered in 2022.
Airbus stock was down 0.2% in overseas trading Tuesday. Shares, however, have traded roughly in line with Boeing over the past few months. Airbus stock is up about 13% year to date and up about 21% over the past 12 months.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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