Large aircraft is a concentrated embodiment of a country's scientific and technological capabilities, industrial level and comprehensive strength, and is known as the "pearl in the crown of industry".
In fact, up to now, there are only three major manufacturers in the field of large aircraft: Boeing (BA.US), Airbus (EADSY.US) and COMAC, among which COMAC is still a rising star, and there is still a long way to go from the "double heroes".
However, after entering 2024, Boeing has continued to have quality problems, and has been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, and has been jokingly called by some people as a "crispy" that has gone crazy to drop parts, which somewhat lives up to the name of "two heroes".
And with the frequent questions, has Boeing's latest performance been affected?
First-quarter revenue exceeded expectations, and losses narrowed year-on-year
On April 24 (local time), Boeing announced its first quarter report for 2024.
According to the data, in the first quarter, Boeing achieved revenue of $16.57 billion, down 8% year-on-year, but better than expected, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), net loss in the first quarter was $360 million, compared with a net loss of $430 million in the same period in 2023, narrowed, net profit loss attributable to the parent company was $340 million, compared with a loss of $410 million in the same period last year, and a loss per share of $0.56 during the period, compared with a loss of $0.69 per share in the same period last year.
Combined with the performance in recent years, under GAAP, Boeing has lost money for five consecutive years and one quarter. It can be seen that since the epidemic, Boeing's situation has been quite bleak.
Non-GAAP core operating loss was $390 million for the first quarter of 2024, compared to a core operating loss of $440 million for the year-ago quarter, and a core loss per share of $1.13 for the period, compared to a core loss of $1.27 per share for the first quarter of 2023.
In addition, under GAAP, Boeing's operating cash flow was negative $3.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period were $6.91 billion.
Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in its quarterly report that the first-quarter results reflected the company's slowdown in production to improve the quality of the 737. Boeing will spend the necessary time to strengthen the quality and safety management system, which will make the company's future stronger and more stable.
Production of the 737 model slowed down, and commercial aircraft revenue plummeted
Dave Calhoun is referring to slowing down the pace of production and delivery of the 737.
In the first quarter of this year, Boeing's commercial aircraft division added 125 net orders and delivered 83 commercial aircraft, down 36.2% year-on-year. Among them, 67 737 models were delivered, a year-on-year decrease of 40.7%.
The decline in delivery figures also led to a significant drop in revenue in the Commercial Aircraft Division. According to the data, in the first quarter, the revenue of the commercial aircraft division was $4.65 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 30.6%.
In addition, with the decline in revenues, the Commercial Aircraft segment has become a lower revenue share than the Global Services segment and the Defense, Space & Security segment.
Commercial aircraft operating margin continued to decline sharply at -24.6% during the period, compared to -9.2% in the year-ago quarter, due to lower deliveries of the 737 and the grounding of the 737 MAX 9.
It can be seen that the frequent product quality problems have had a significant impact on Boeing, and the data of its commercial aircraft division have fallen to the "freezing point".
was downgraded by institutions, and the stock price also suffered a high opening and a low trend
It is worth noting that although the first quarter report exceeded expectations, this did not stop some agencies from downgrading Boeing's rating.
On April 25, Moody's downgraded Boeing's credit rating to Baa3 from Baa2, just one notch above "junk" and gave a negative outlook.
Moody's expects Boeing to face financial difficulties in the coming years, with free cash flow not reaching the level Moody's previously expected, Boeing may need to address cash flow shortfalls by issuing new debt, and the headwinds for Boeing's commercial aircraft division will persist until at least 2026.
In addition, since April, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada, Morgan Stanley and other institutions have lowered Boeing's price targets.
Judging from the stock price feedback, since entering 2024, Boeing has suffered a new round of decline. After the disclosure of the first quarterly report, Boeing finally ushered in a high opening, but then suffered a decline, and finally fell by 2.87%.
Judging from the feedback on the stock price trend, investors are still skeptical about Boeing.
epilogue
Previously, some industry insiders analyzed that the reason for the quality problems of Bo Audio was that the company replaced the original engineer culture of excellence with the financially driven culture of Wall Street, so as to ignore rules and outsource. In addition, the recession of the U.S. manufacturing industry, and the fact that executives are more responsible for stock prices and market capitalization.
All kinds of reasons superimposed, and finally brewed the bitter fruit of today.
It is reported that Boeing's president and CEO Dave Calhoun is leaving his post. In addition, after entering 2024, Boeing has actually changed a number of company executives, and under the leadership of these new executives, it will be interesting to see if Boeing can get rid of the "crispy" name obtained by dropping doors and tires.
Author: Yun Zhifeng Qi