A Boeing 737 MAX 10 airliner pauses while taxiing on the flight line before its first flight at Renton Municipal Airport on June 18, 2021 in Renton, Washington.
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images
Boeing reported a $3.3 billion quarterly loss Wednesday as problems in its defense unit countered strides in its industrial aircraft business.
The manufacturer, nonetheless, generated nearly $3 billion in free money flow within the three months ended Sept. 30, up from outflows of $507 million a 12 months earlier. Boeing reiterated its forecast to attain positive free money flow for the 12 months.
Here’s how Boeing performed within the third quarter compared with analysts’ estimates complied by Refinitiv:
- Adjusted loss per share: $6.18 vs. expected earnings per share of seven cents.
- Revenue: $15.96 billion vs. $17.76 billion expected.
The corporate’s shares were down around 1% in early trading.
Boeing reported losses of $2.8 billion in its defense unit on programs including the KC-46 tanker and Air Force One. The corporate previously disclosed losses of greater than $1 billion related to modifying two 747 jumbo jets to function Air Force One, a contract negotiated under former President Donald Trump.
“We’re squarely focused on maturing these programs, mitigating risks and delivering for our customers and their necessary missions,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said in an worker note Wednesday.
The difficulty within the defense unit has piled up as Boeing’s industrial unit is recovering from the Covid pandemic, boosted by a rebound in air travel.
Boeing’s industrial unit’s revenue rose 40% from a 12 months ago to $6.26 billion. It delivered 112 planes within the third quarter, up from 85 a 12 months earlier. Deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner resumed in August after a pause for much of the previous two years to deal with a series of producing flaws.
Alaska Airlines on Wednesday said it could exercise options to purchase 52 Boeing 737 Max planes for its fleet and rights for 105 more of them through 2030. The Seattle-based airline said the order was the most important in its 90-year history and the brand new planes can be used to exchange older planes and for growth.
But Calhoun and other aerospace executives have said supply chain problems and labor shortages are hindering increases in production.
“We’re realistic concerning the environment we face and are taking comprehensive motion,” Calhoun wrote to staff Wednesday. “Inside our production facilities, we’re not pushing the system too fast. We’re slowing down when vital and dealing hard to make sure work gets accomplished in sequence.”
Boeing has struggled to stabilize after two crashes of its 737 Max, one almost 4 years ago in Indonesia and one other in Ethiopia five months later, a crisis that grounded the jets around the globe.
The manufacturer is now attempting to win federal regulator approval of latest versions of that aircraft, the 737 Max 7 and 10, the smallest and largest within the family. But Boeing faces a year-end deadline to achieve this without adding additional alerting systems for pilots, under recent laws passed within the wake of the crashes.
Boeing executives will discuss results on a ten:30 a.m. ET call Wednesday with analysts, where the corporate will likely face questions on potential production increases of industrial jets and its latest timeline on certification of the brand new Max versions.