Ahead of Boeing earnings

Update, April 22:

Here is the link to Boeing’s 1Q09 earnings. Here is the link to the 1Q09 PDF slide show that goes with the earnings.

Original Post:

Tomorrow (April 22) is the release of Boeing’s 1Q09 earnings. Here are some thoughts ahead of the release.

  • Do not look for any announcement on rate reductions of the 737. Boeing previously announced reductions of the 777 line and freezing rates of the 747 and 767 lines. There continues to be a lot of speculation that the 737 rate will be reduced soon. Whether it is or isn’t don’t expect any announcement tomorrow. Someone will try to get guidance about 2010 rates.
  • There continues to be speculation that Boeing Capital Corp. will have to do more customer financing ($1bn) than has previously been announced. As of this moment, we don’t expect anything new on this front, either. There ought to be discussion about the 2009 funding gap and how funding is beginning to look in 2010.
  • Progress is going well on the 787 testing. Although some diehards still hope for first flight this month, forget it. June is when this is likely. When in June is a moving target. But Boeing has a media day April 29 about the 787 certification and testing program. That one finally has been schedule demonstrates confidence that the bird is really going to fly soon. Expect some comment on this.
  • Boeing is going to announce enhancements to the 737 next week. It’s unknown whether CEO Jim McNerney might make any allusions to this. See our report from December for the fundamentals. No new engine, though.
  • Boeing was the biggest loser in the proposed Defense budget realignment. We don’t think there will be anything more than some general comments about this, however, since Congress has yet to act on the budget and there will be plenty of jockeying among losers to restore their programs. Boeing is unlikely to say anything in detail with the politics hanging out there.
  • There will undoubtedly be analysis of the current commercial aviation market conditions and prospects going forward.

We usually provide a running report of the earnings call, but we are speaking before the Economic Development Council of Snohomish County at the same time. Here is the direct link to Boeing’s Investor’s page where you can listen in on the webcast and get the earnings release. Seeking Alpha usually posts a transcript within several hours. Here is a direct link to the Boeing page at Seeking Alpha.

One Comment on “Ahead of Boeing earnings

  1. I tried to formulate a response to the earnings call. I was so stupified by It I could not.

    But I found a guy that was able to sum up my thinking for me, so I’ll take the easy out:

    http://eyenostuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/ba-executive-suites-of-idiots.html

    http://eyenostuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/ba-q1-earnings-cc.html

    “Jim McNerney is a COMPLETE AND UTTER FAILURE. This man is a weak CEO, directly responsible for poor planning and execution at BA. He’s been paid 10s of millions while shareholders have lost 10s of billions. Jim McNerney needs to be immediately fired, in a very public manner, and sued for incompetence. Even today, I hear a myriad of BA vendors talk about the massive confusion in the supply chain during the last strike at BA and it infuriates me. BA likes to paint its suppliers as the problem. The problem is the horrendously poor oversight from BA, and the sorry and inept leadership from Jim McNerney. I simply won’t touch this stock until there is a house cleaning of the entire executive team from this poorly performing company, starting with McNerney. “

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *