Boeing's Rocky Road to Recovery: Challenges and Hopes

The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing faces an uncertain future. After a year full of safety and production issues, as well as an ongoing strike, analysts at Bernstein have weakened their confidence in the company's swift recovery. This was reflected in a downgrade of Boeing's stock from "Outperform" to "Market-perform" and a reduction of the price target from $195 to $169. Analyst Douglas Harned and his team emphasize that a convincing recovery plan is necessary. Specific measures for restoring the leadership position and building leadership talent have not been sufficiently outlined so far. Despite the challenges, Boeing was able to raise more than $21 billion in capital, a move that was no surprise to experts on Wall Street given the company's increasing debt. The recent negotiations with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which were described as "productive," were received positively. However, significant losses burden the company. In the last quarter, Boeing reported a net loss of $6.17 billion, bringing the total net balance losses in 2024 to nearly $8 billion. Adding to the challenges is a planned reduction of the workforce by 17,000 jobs and the postponement of the first delivery of the 777X jet to 2026. Harned views the staff reduction as a distraction from the company's core problems and considers the timing of the measure as inappropriate. A better opportunity will present itself in the future. Boeing has been under new management since August, following an incident in January that led to a comprehensive overhaul of safety measures. The ongoing strike since September 13 has, according to estimates by the Anderson Economic Group, resulted in a loss of nearly $10 billion in wages and revenues for Boeing and its suppliers.