(Jenniger Buchanan/Getty Images)

Boeing turns cash flow positive for the first time since its door plug blowout

But its loss widened due to a steep charge related to a 777X certification delay.

10/29/25 7:17AM

Boeing’s uneven recovery from a dismal 2024 continues, with the plane maker reporting third-quarter earnings results on Wednesday morning.

Shares whipsawed in premarket trading.

The company posted an adjusted loss of $7.47 per share, significantly deeper than Wall Street estimates of a loss of $4.44 per share. According to Boeing, the loss primarily reflects a steep charge from the certification delay of the frequently delayed 777X, which is already six years behind its original timeline. A pretax earnings charge of $4.9 billion on the program deepened this quarter’s loss by $6.45 per share, Boeing said.

The company also:

Booked $23.3 billion in revenue, up 30% from the same period last year and above expectations of $22.3 billion.
Generated $238 million in free cash flow, beating the $884 million loss expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Last year, Boeing burned through $14.3 billion in cash. This is Boeing’s first positive free cash flow since Q4 2023.
Reported a growing backlog, up 20% from the end of last year to $636 billion. According to Jefferies, about 28% of the backlog is earmarked for Asia.

The commercial airplanes unit posted $11.1 billion in revenue, up 49% from the same quarter last year.

Boeing’s deliveries have improved this year, boosting Wall Street optimism after the FAA lifted the cap on 737 Max production from 38 to 42 aircraft per month. Earlier this month, Boeing said it had delivered 440 commercial planes through September. That’s more than 2024’s full-year total of 348 planes, but less than the 568 planes Boeing delivered through September in 2018 before deadly 737 Max crashes rocked the company. Rival Airbus said it’s delivered 507 jets through September this year.

Adding some wind beneath Boeing’s wings this year are several multibillion-dollar orders from foreign countries, announced as part of President Trump’s trade deals. The company is said to be in talks to sell up to 500 planes to China — a deal that the US Ambassador to China has said is “very important to the president.”

Boeing shares have climbed about 26% year to date as of Tuesday’s close, outpacing the S&P 500.

Toby Bochan

Market Wrap

Markets cheer surprise gift of cooler CPI amid renewed AI optimism to finish higher

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 surged on Thursday — perhaps we’ll have a Santa rally after all!

CAMARILLO, CA FEBRUARY 09: A cannabis farm worker de-leafs cann

Trump signs executive order expediting reclassification of marijuana as a less dangerous drug

Rescheduling would lift regulatory pressures that have been weighing on US cannabis operators’ margins. Shares of weed companies, many of which don’t sell cannabis in the US, tumbled an hour before the executive order was signed.

J. Edward Moreno7h

Max Knoblauch8h

Rivian climbs as it rolls out a “universal hands-free” update and scores an upgrade from Baird

Shares of EV maker Rivian are on pace for their 10th best day of 2025 on Thursday, following an upgrade from Baird to “buy” from “hold” and the rollout of its new hands-free driving update.

Baird raised its price target on Rivian nearly 79% to $25, writing that “2026 is the year of R2.”

Meanwhile, Rivian says its new hands-free feature will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel across 3.5 million miles of US and Canadian roads.

Despite referring to it as “universal hands-free” driving, the EV maker says the feature will not stop or slow for traffic lights or stop signs, follow navigation systems, or make turns, and will function only on roads with visible lane lines.

Rivian revealed the update at its AI Day last week, when it also hinted at a robotaxi plan.

Rivian rolls out new 'Universal Hands-Free' driving feature | TechCrunch

Meanwhile, Rivian says its new hands-free feature will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel across 3.5 million miles of US and Canadian roads.

Rivian revealed the update at its AI Day last week, when it also hinted at a robotaxi plan.

Matt Phillips9h

The stock market loves your rising electricity bill

Utilities with a footprint in the massive PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest power grid, were up Thursday after prices set in a key auction hit a record high of $333.44 per megawatt-day.

Such power providers, including Talen Energy, Constellation Energy, and Vistra, saw tidy gains shortly before midday.

“This auction leaves no doubt that data centers’ demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply, and the solution will require concerted action involving PJM, its stakeholders, state and federal partners, and the data center industry itself,” Stu Bresler, set to become PJM’s chief operating officer next month, told Reuters.

As I’ve previously mused, political pushback from high power prices, partially created by the AI boom, could become a constraint on development of such sites. Democrats in the US Senate are now calling for hearings on the issue.

It’s fertile political soil. This morning’s US CPI report for November showed electricity prices up nearly 7% year over year, the highest since the tail end of the postpandemic inflation in April 2023.

Costs on Key US Grid Hit New Record, Testing Affordability

Luke Kawa10h

Micron’s earnings, soft inflation, and OpenAI valuation chatter revive speculative AI trade

The three biggest news events since markets closed yesterday are all helping spur a big bounce-back for the more speculative companies tied to AI:

Micron’s eye-popping Q2 guidance reaffirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt how hot AI demand continues to run in the near term.
While the data is undoubtedly messy, core CPI inflation decelerated by much more than anticipated in November. Lower rates are a clear positive for more marginal companies levered to the AI theme, whose stocks trade with a higher embedded risk of default and whose bonds have also been suggesting more credit risk as of late.
OpenAI reportedly getting its hands on more money (and commanding a higher valuation in the process) provides some semblance of valuation support for these firms and also a better fundamental foundation as well: more cash in CEO Sam Altman’s pockets means more cash he has to make good on commitments to OpenAI’s many suppliers.

Put together, the key news items since Wednesday’s close are producing massive gains for the likes of Bloom Energy, Cipher Mining, POET Technologies, CoreWeave, IREN, and Nebius.