Boeing, which already has delayed its new 787 Dreamliner 14 months, announced Tuesday it will know "soon" whether a supplier's damaged part on the fourth of six test planes will affect the program, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
The mid-body fuselage section built by Global Aeronautica LLC, a venture with Alenia North America, was damaged "by an Alenia employee not following proper work procedures" in Charleston, S.C., Boeing said, Bloomberg News reported. Boeing said it resolved the issue, but it is currently evaluating the error's impact on the plane's timetable.
Boeing's shares (NYSE: BA) fell 52 cents to $65.20 on the news in Tuesday morning trading.
Stock analyst C. Leonard Bauer said he's "not going to think the worst" regarding a possible timetable change, until Boeing knows definitively if it will affect production and roll-out.
Boeing said on Monday its 787 Dreamliner would make its first test flight in Q4 2008, reiterating that it would make its revised test flight date for the next-generation airliner, Reuters reported Tuesday.
First deliveries of the plane were also on schedule for Q3 2009, said Dmitry Krol, Boeing's director of communications in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Reuters reported.
Boeing's (NYSE: BA) shares rose 53 cents to $73.69 in Monday afternoon trading.
Independent stock analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Monday Boeing's reiteration of the company's first-flight time deadline was not gratuitous.
The first 'power on' for Boeing's (NYSE: BA) next-generation 787 Dreamliner, now set for June 2008, will be a milestone, but by no means the final hurdle for the new plane, says an analyst.
Boeing said it has overcome 787 parts shortages and that subsequent planes are arriving at the final assembly line in better and better shape, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Boeing is the first major aerospace company to use a decentralized manufacturing model for a civilian commercial airplane, and the company has experienced a series of related snags that have delayed the launch of the 787 by about 15 months. Commercial airlines are now expected to take possession of the first 787 planes in Q3 2009.
C. Leonard Bauer, an independent stock analyst, told BloggingStocks Tuesday that any more delays for the 787 roll-out and Boeing "will be the last aerospace company to use a decentralized manufacturing model" for a civilian commercial airplane.
Airbus has again delayed delivery of selected A380 superjumbo jets, saying the company's transition to automated production is behind schedule.
Airbus now expects to deliver 12 A380 planes in 2008, down from 13, and 21 planes in 2009, down from 25, the company announced Tuesday.
Promoted as the world's most economical, large aircraft, the A380 is about two years behind schedule. The A380 will seat 525 passengers in a normal configuration, at least 50-120 seats more than its chief competition, Boeing's (NYSE: BA) 747, the wide-body industry standard.
In Europe, shares of Airbus's parent EADS were virtually unchanged on the news, down just 2 euro cents to 12.72 euros in afternoon trading. Boeing's shares gained five cents to $84.87.
Readers of this space know that the investment bias is toward large-cap companies with demonstrated business models and who have a competitive advantage in established markets, preferably with a favorable global trend as a support. And with the above in mind, Boeing is worth an evaluation.
In general, analysts expect 3-5% revenue growth in FY 2008, and 7-10% in FY 2009 as Boeing's increased aircraft production to meet high order backlogs offsets production delays in the 787 Dreamliner.
Moreover, although not to give short-shrift to Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems division, now the world's second-largest military contractor, behind Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), the major driver of BA's future value-added will continue to be its commercial aviation operation, led by the next-generation 787 Dreamliner.
The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner has been delayed three times, mostly because of problems with suppliers.The situation has gotten so bad that some of the company's customers, large airlines, say they will ask Boeing for compensation. That could cost Boeing a lot of money.
Boeing management has promised that there will be no more delays and that everyone who wants a plane will get one, on time. But, the best laid plans...
The company's large unions may stage work slowdowns. They argue that the work given to suppliers should have gone to them. They claim that delays could have been cut. Of course, now they want to delay the program further all on their own.
"Unions have the upper hand now,'' said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with Teal Group, an aviation consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia, told Bloomberg. "They're determined to get their share of the good times."
Boeing management now faces more criticism because its own labor force can't be held in line. The company's stock has already dropped due to the delays. First suppliers, now its own people.
The news shows that incompetent management usually stays incompetent. Boeing did not control its supply chain, and did not know it had component problems until too late. Now it will be accused of not even keeping tabs on its own unions.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Reuters reports that German daily Die Welt quotes a customer letter saying that Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) just announced the fourth delay in delivering its 787 Dreamliner. It was originally scheduled for this month but if Die Welt is right about the fourth delay -- which would affect deliveries scheduled for 2012 -- the 787 would now be 27 months behind schedule. But Boeing denies the report.
The good news as of now is that none of the 55 customers who ordered 787s -- creating a $151 billion backlog -- have canceled. Last month the CourierPost reported that the three initial delays would cost Boeing $4 billion cancellation fees. No word on how much this fourth delay will add to that cost -- if the report proves to be true.
But 2008 is turning out to be far worse year for aircraft orders than 2007 was. Both Boeing and Airbus have played down expectations for plane orders this year, after the record 2,754 orders between them last year. Most analysts are expecting about half that number this year.
Profit rose to $1.21 billion, or $1.61 a share, from $873 million, or $1.12, a year earlier, the company said in its earnings release (pdf). Sales gained 4.1% to $16 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.35 on revenue of $16.52 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
"We're off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance for Boeing," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney in the release. "We are methodically working through our challenges, including the start-up of the 787, and our people remain focused on satisfying our customers and leveraging growth and productivity into better bottom-line and top-line performance for our company."
Backlog at the quarter was $346 billion, up 32% year-over-year, driven by orders for commercial airplanes at the V-22. Investors responded positively to the news, sending the shares up in premarket trading. The company also reaffirmed its guidance of $5.70 to $5.85 this year and gave guidance of $6.80 to $7 per share for 2009. Analysts expected profit of $5.93 this year and $6.87 for next year.
This goes to show you that yesterday's dogs become today's heroes on Wall Street. Anything remains possible in today's market where conventional wisdom regularly is proven wrong.
The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner has been delayed for a third time and deliveries to airlines may not begin in earnest for a year. The news is bad for Boeing, but it is worse for some of the airline partners who were counting on a fixed schedules for getting the new plane into service. The Dreamliner flies farther, saves more fuel, and carries more passengers than many aircraft in service now.
Several airlines, including Qantas, New Zealand Air, Air India, and All Nippon will all ask for money because of the delays. According toReuters, "More than 50 airlines are waiting for 892 Boeing 787s, worth a combined $145 billion at list prices."
The news is very tricky for Boeing investors to assess. There is an excellent case that some of the airlines which expected the 787 this year and next have legitimate claims. Some might even argue that they can cancel their orders and buy a competing product from Airbus. The costs to Boeing could stretch into the tens of billions of dollars. But none of the airlines has made public the value of its damage request. Boeing also might elect to counter these claims, perhaps in court. Of course, being involved in a lawsuit with your largest customers is rarely a good idea.
One thing Boeing's shareholders can be sure of is that the mess is going to cost some money, and that usually moves a company's share price down.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Mining companies BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RTP) are not only competing over iron-ore customers, but they are not competing for investors as well, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street." BHP says 60% of their investors also own Rio shares; Rio puts the figure at 50%.
Prices for the top 50 branded drugs increased an average of 6.73% in 2006 and 7.82% last year at wholesale, according to market research firm Delta Marketing Dynamics. Often targeted by politicians, pharmaceutical companies are undeterred, the Wall Street Journal reported.
WEB SITES:
According to iSuppli sources, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) has cut its 2008 NAND order forecast and informed suppliers that its demand growth will slow in 2008 vs. 2007.
The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is considering suspending work on the short-range version of its 787 jet, the -3 shorthaul, in an attempt to get production of the long-range version, the long-range -8, back on track, Flight Blogger said.
"It's not so easy building an airplane; harder still to develop a new one from scratch and then build it in various pieces around the world to be shipped to one place for final assembly," notes technology expert Mark Mowrey.
"Delays aside, the plane remains the most elegant, sophisticated and efficient carrier-class planes in the world, one for which we bet customers are willing to wait.
"We believe the company will move beyond pre-launch troubles this year and continue to innovate along the gamut of its aerospace endeavors, and find the stock's valuation a compelling entry point.
"In addition to a just-identified 3-unit addendum to an existing order for six Dreamliners from Fiji-based Air Pacific, Boeing has racked up orders for 817 of the 787s from 55 different carriers around the globe.
"The airlines were attracted to the advantages the Dreamliner's nearly half composite (instead of a similarly strong, though heavier aluminum and titanium) structure which should utilize 20% less fuel for a given load and range.
Boeing 's Q4 2007 earnings increased 5.1% on a rise in jet deliveries and improved productivity, the company announced Wednesday [pdf]. The company also stated that the 787 Dreamliner is on-schedule.
Equally important, Boeing said it was on track to meet its revised production schedule set earlier this month for its next-generation plane, the 787 Dreamliner. However, Boeing did not mention when power would be switched on in the first 787, or project a schedule for deliveries beyond stating that the first one would be delivered in early 2009. Boeing has secured more than 800 orders for the 787.
Bloomberg News reports that Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) is delaying the delivery of its 787 Dreamliner into 2009. It already delayed it from May 2008 to November 2008 several months ago. This may well be the biggest business blunder of its CEO's stellar career.
Since I am writing a book about Boeing and its CEO James McNerney, I have been very focused on his career. And he has had an almost unbroken track record of spectacular success in everything he's done. He was a hockey and baseball player at Yale; went on to Harvard Business School for his MBA. Then he went from Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) to McKinsey & Co. to General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), where his 18-year career ended just short of succeeding Jack Welch.
After jumping from GE to 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), McNerney took over Boeing in 2005 and the company's stock rose dramatically until it became increasingly clear that Boeing would not be able to meet its original delivery deadlines for the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing now claims that the 787 will fly for the first time near the end of the second quarter of 2008 and won't ship to the first customer, All Nippon Airways Co., until 2009. Both dates were pushed back by about three months.
Airbus announced Wednesday that it beat rival Boeing in 2007 deliveries but trailed it in new orders.
Airbus said it delivered 453 planes to Boeing's 441 in 2007, according to a company statement. Meanwhile, Boeing (NYSE: BA) bested European-based Airbus in 2007 net new orders, 1,413-1,341. Airbus' 2007 delivery total was up 19 from 2006's 434. Airbus said it expects to deliver 470 planes in 2008.
"2007 was a challenging year but also successful year for Airbus," Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders said. "We were successful in the market and mastered the industrial challenges of the production ramp up, the timely delivery of the first A380, and the implementation of the Airbus Power 8 turn-around program. 2008 will be as challenging on all fronts. But I am sure that, with the dedication of our people and all involved, we shall master them. On the commercial side, I anticipate that our order intake will be above our deliveries."
Delay city
Airbus has been plagued by a series of production setbacks as it rolls-out two new commercial aircraft deemed critical to the aerospace giant's early 21st century aviation strategy: the 500-seat A380 superjumbo jet and the A350.
It's the second delay for the commercial aviation giant, which previously had delayed the introduction of the next-generation plane by six months. The 787's maiden flight will now occur near the end of Q2. The company underscored that the fundamental design and technologies for the 787 remain sound.
Investors early Wednesday took Boeing's delay announcement in stride. Boeing's (NYSE: BA) shares rose 16 cents to $78.02 in Wednesday morning trading.
The 787 Dreamliner program has encountered several bottlenecks due to parts shortages and assembly delays. Boeing has 817 orders for the plane, which is considered critical to its early 21st century commercial aviation strategy as it battles with rival Airbus.
Boeing, which already has delayed its new 787 Dreamliner 14 months, announced Tuesday it will know "soon" whether a supplier's damaged part on the fourth of six test planes will affect the program, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
Boeing said on Monday its 787 Dreamliner would make its first test flight in Q4 2008, reiterating that it would make its revised test flight date for the next-generation airliner, 
Airbus has again delayed delivery of selected A380 superjumbo jets, saying the company's transition to automated production is behind schedule.
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