Boeing Stock Pops After CEO Gives Upbeat Cash Flow Outlook

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Boeing (BA) stock is sharply higher in Tuesday's session despite the aerospace giant missing top- and bottom-line expectations for its fourth quarter.

In the three months ending December 31, Boeing's revenue decreased 30.8% year over year to $15.2 billion. Its net loss per share widened to $5.90 from 47 cents in the year-ago period.

"We made progress on key areas to stabilize our operations during the quarter and continued to strengthen important aspects of our safety and quality plan," said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in a statement. "My team and I are focused on making the fundamental changes needed to fully recover our company's performance and restore trust with our customers, employees, suppliers, investors, regulators and all others who are counting on us."

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The results came up well short of analysts' expectations. Wall Street was anticipating revenue of $16.2 billion and a net loss of $3 per share, according to CNBC. However, Boeing's prerelease of the results last week took some of the sting out of the miss.

Additionally, Ortberg took to CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" to say he expects Boeing to be cash flow positive in the secxond half of this year.

Boeing's results also revealed that the company ended the quarter with a backlog of $521.3 billion, including more than 5,500 commercial planes valued at approximately $435 billion, and $26.3 billion in cash and marketable securities.

Is Boeing stock a buy, sell or hold?

Boeing's struggles on the price charts have been well-documented, with shares down 32% year over year heading into Tuesday's trading. Yet, Wall Street is betting on a comeback for the Dow Jones stock.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the average analyst target price for BA stock is $186.26, representing implied upside of about 5% to the January 27 close. Additionally, the consensus recommendation is Buy.

Financial services firm Jefferies is one of those firms with a Buy rating on the large-cap stock, along with a $205 price target.

"Under new leadership, BA's turnaround is dependent on fixing the engineering culture, stabilizing the production systems, and executing with greater discipline," wrote Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu in a January 23 note. "Free cash flow continues to be a usage for full-year 2025, with a capital raise required to backfill minimum operating levels, prefund debt repayments, and build a buffer for continued choppiness."

Joey Solitro is a freelance financial journalist at Kiplinger with more than a decade of experience. A longtime equity analyst, Joey has covered a range of industries for media outlets including The Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Market Realist, and TipRanks. Joey holds a bachelor's degree in business administration.