Boeing reports $6 billion quarterly loss; new CEO says plane-maker at “crossroads”
The numbers behind plane-maker’s second-biggest quarterly loss were worse than Wall Street expected.
Boeing’s third-quarter results weren’t as bad as Wall Street analysts expected. They were actually a little worse.
Most financial metrics — like adjusted free cash flow, which was almost negative $2 billion, or revenues of more than $17.8 billion — were close, but a bit shy of where the consensus thought they’d be.
The headline net loss figure itself is daunting: over $6 billion for the three months ending September 30. It’s the second-largest quarterly net loss on record for Boeing, with only Q4 2020 (as the firm grappled with the pandemic and impact of the prior grounding of its 737 MAX) coming in worse.
In a message to employees posted this morning, CEO Kelly Ortberg admitted that “clearly, we are at a crossroads,” adding that his mission was to “turn this big ship in the right direction.”
Ortberg, who joined Boeing earlier this year from RTX, outlined a four-pronged strategy to restore the public’s – as well as investors’ – faith in the embattled airline during his first public presentation atop the firm. To quote:
“First, we need a fundamental culture change in the company.
Second, we must stabilize the business.
Third, we need to improve our execution discipline on new platform commitments across the company.
And fourth, while doing the first three, we must build a new future for Boeing.”
Sounds like a bit of a long-term project, with no shortage of pressing items also on the agenda.
Today, workers vote on a deal to end the strike that’s contributed to the firm’s poor operating performance, while ratings agencies have suggested the company’s corporate bonds are at risk of being downgraded to “junk” status. Separately, the airplane manufacturer also received approval from the SEC to raise up to $25 billion through a shelf offering of shares and/or even more debt to shore up its liquidity position.
All this big bad red ink looks to have been in the price: shares are off less than 1% in the premarket as of 9 a.m. ET.
