Al Root

Boeing shares jumped after first-quarter earnings showed improvement. Wall Street is encouraged.

Wednesday, the commercial-jet maker reported an adjusted operating profit of $199 million. Wall Street was looking for $122 million. What's more, $199 million was a big improvement from the loss of $388 million a year ago. Shares jumped 6%, ending the day at $172.27.

Following earnings, Citi analyst Jason Gursky increased his price target for Boeing stock to $220 from $210. "Sky continues to clear," he wrote, adding that margins in Boeing's defense and service business improved. "The only near-term nit is the halt of deliveries to Chinese airlines given tariff negotiations. In our view, Boeing is likely to be able to place the aircraft with other customers over time."

The escalating trade war, which includes 125% Chinese tariffs on U.S. imports, leaves Boeing jets and most other products unaffordable for Chinese buyers.

He rates Boeing stock at Buy. So does UBS analyst Gavin Parsons. He took his price target to $207 from $190 after earnings. Boeing's turnaround is gaining momentum, Parsons wrote.

There is still a long way to go. In the first quarter of 2018 Boeing reported earnings of $2.5 billion. That was before the second tragic 737 MAX crash, Covid-19, and quality problems that constrained production.

Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag also lifted her price target on Boeing stock, raising it by $10 to $185. She rates shares at Hold.

Overall, 61% of analysts covering Boeing stock have Buy ratings. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%, according to FactSet. The average analyst price target for Boeing shares is about $196.

In April 2018, the average price target was closer to $400, valuing the company at about $240 billion. After Covid, MAX, and quality issues, there is more debt, and more shares. Today's price target values Boeing at about $180 billion.

In April 2018, Wall Street valued Airbus at about $90 billion. Today, Street price targets value the company at about $160 billion, up about 75%. Using that growth metric, Boeing should be worth closer to $420 billion now. The $240 billion gap is one way to size the toll extracted by all Boeing's problems since 2018.

Boeing stock was down 0.4% in premarket trading at $171.17, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively.

News that Vietnam Airlines was close to buying 50 Boeing jets wasn't moving shares. That makes some sense. Boeing stock was up a lot on Wednesday. What's more, Boeing's current backlog is more than 5,600 jets.

The challenge for the company right now is to build the product, not build the order book.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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April 24, 2025 09:19 ET (13:19 GMT)

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