Boeing (BA) is expected to report first quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday, following a quarter that could be called rocky, to say the least.
During Q1, Boeing suffered the high-profile door plug blowout that led to a grounding of its 737 Max 9 fleet, increased scrutiny of the plane maker’s 737 production and safety processes and possible legal jeopardy, and decreased overall plane production. It also led to a new whistleblower documenting production issues with the 787 Dreamliner, and the eventual resignation of CEO Dave Calhoun. Boeing stock was the second-worst performer in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) during the quarter.
Ahead of the release, Boeing shares were up almost 1% at $170.77.
For the quarter, Boeing is expected to report $16.25 billion in top-line revenue, a 9.3% decline from a year ago, with core (or adjusted) loss per share coming in at $1.72, per Bloomberg consensus. The plane maker is also expected to report an adjusted net income loss of $773.1 million, with negative operating cash flow of $2.77 billion.
While Boeing declined to give 2024 guidance during its last earnings call, analysts are expecting full-year revenue of $84.66 billion, with an operating cash flow of $3.69 billion and core EPS of $0.76.
In terms of Q1 deliveries, earlier this month, Boeing reported it delivered 83 planes in total, including 67 737 jets, three 767s, and 13 787 Dreamliner wide-body jets. The total of 83 planes was a 47% drop from a year ago, when Boeing delivered 130 planes, with 113 737s and 11 787 Dreamliners as the two biggest components.
Boeing’s deliveries were slowed by heightened scrutiny of its plane assembly processes at its plants in Washington and South Carolina, which led to higher costs. Impacts on Boeing deliveries and plane production could have massive repercussions on Boeing’s cash flow and reserves as well.
Last week, Boeing was the focus of two separate hearings in the Senate. One probed Boeing’s safety practices and featured claims from a Boeing engineer-turned-whistleblower named Sam Salehpour about the 787 Dreamliner. Separately, another Senate panel held a hearing calling for a deeper investigation by the Justice Department to figure out whether Boeing violated the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement.
In addition, airline partners like United (UAL) and Delta (DAL) have sought out new planes from other plane manufacturers like Airbus (AIR.PA), which has benefited from Boeing’s recent issues.
Nevertheless, Boeing still snagged 131 gross orders in Q1, with its order backlog still sitting at a whopping 5,591 planes. Despite all the troubles Boeing has been through, it and Airbus are still the only suppliers of wide-body commercial jets.
Similarly, Boeing’s defense business is also of crucial importance to many governments, most importantly the US. In addition to fighter jets, military helicopters, and tanker jets, Boeing makes a number of drones for both air and sea use.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance