The difficulties experienced by Boeing (BA stock) in its defense division more than offset the company’s advances in its commercial operations, causing the company to report an unexpected loss for the third quarter early on Wednesday morning. The shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) took a turn for the worst. GE stock jumped.

However, the Dow Jones aerospace and military giant Boeing (NYSE:BA) achieved a healthy cash flow in the third quarter and confirmed “a good path” to returning to positive free cash flow in 2022.

General Electric (GE), a supplier of jet engines to Boeing, sent a positive signal on commercial aviation on Tuesday. However, GE cut its projection after reporting lower-than-expected results for the third quarter. The reason for this was the company’s underperforming renewable energy division.

Both Boeing and GE are continuing their efforts to bring the company around. General Electric intends to leave its varied history in the dust and begin its transition into an aviation-focused firm in the early years of 2024.

Fears of a recession and interruptions in supply chains are currently resonating across the industrial manufacturing sector.

Boeing Earnings

Wall Street forecasts put Boeing’s earnings per share (EPS) at 13 cents, up from a loss of 60 cents a year ago, breaking the company’s streak of four consecutive quarterly losses. It was anticipated that sales would increase by 18%, reaching $18.014 billion. They anticipated an increase in free cash flow (FCF) of $1.077 billion.

The end result was that each share of Boeing fell by $6.18. The increase in revenue was greater than 4%, coming in at $15.956 billion. The aerospace and defense firm Dow Jones highlighted costs in both the Air Force One and KC-46 projects it was working on. Free cash flow for Boeing came in at $2.906 billion, compared to a cash outflow of $507 million during the same period in the prior year.

Defense sales declined 20%. Commercial revenue grew 40%.

Free cash flow (FCF) is an essential indicator for evaluating the profitability and performance of a corporation. A strong free cash flow enables a company to make expansion investments, cut debt, and pay dividends to shareholders, among other financial goals.

Boeing maintains its expectation that it would generate positive free cash flow in 2022. On a conference call scheduled for 10:30 am Eastern Time (ET), management will continue their discussion of the company’s prospects.

Wall Street analysts predicted, before to the release of the report, that the company would have a net loss of $1.85 per share and free cash flow of $595.5 million for the entire year. After suffering yearly losses for the past four years, analysts anticipate Boeing will begin to see profits again in 2023.

BA Stock

During trading on Wednesday’s stock market, shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) first increased by more than 2%, but then reversed course and fell by 3.6% to 141.20. As a result of the move, Boeing shares fell below the support level at its 50-day moving average throughout the trading day.

The price of BA stock (NYSE:BA) increased for three straight weeks leading up to its Q3 results report. The 50-day moving average was recaptured by Boeing stock on Tuesday for the first time since September 12; however, the company is still trading considerably below the 200-day line.

The number of commercial airplanes that Boeing delivered during the third quarter increased by 32% from the previous year’s total of 85. After a protracted halt brought on by a slew of production issues, the company’s 787 Dreamliner deliveries started back up again in August.

Boeing stated on Wednesday that Alaska Airlines (ALK) is extending its fleet of 737 Max jets by placing an order for 52 more planes and exercising its options.

In addition to ramping up production of the 787, Boeing (NYSE:BA) is working to push out the date for achieving certification of two additional 737 Max types. After there were two tragic accidents involving the 737 Max in recent years, the plane was grounded all over the world, which hurt Boeing’s revenues and shares.

In the meanwhile, a lack of workers has slowed down manufacturing of jet engines and aircraft, despite the fact that the commercial and business travel sectors of the aviation industry are continuing to show signs of improvement.

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