Shares of Boeing (BA 1.50%) are moving higher Tuesday. The company’s stock gained 4.1% as of 1:20 p.m. ET, but was up as much as 7.6% earlier in the day. The move upward comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
Boeing reported earnings Tuesday morning and despite a nearly $12 billion loss for 2024, shares were up.
There’s reason to hope
The embattled plane maker released its Q4 and fiscal year 2024 numbers, revealing its largest loss since 2020. Boeing lost $11.8 billion in 2024, including a painful $5.4 billion loss from its once-lucrative defense segment — competitor RTX reported $7.7 billion in net income for the year.
So why is the stock up? Because this was far from unexpected. Boeing’s woes have been highly covered, from major safety concerns to production issues to a labor strike. Wall Street knew the numbers would not look good, and this was already accounted for in the stock price.
Furthermore, there was a silver lining in the report. The company is ramping up production more smoothly than some feared. It has delivered 33 737 jets so far in January and will soon be hitting its cap of 38 per month, according to Boeing’s CFO. The company’s leadership also indicated the cap, imposed by U.S. regulators, would be removed later in the year and that the company would have the capacity to exceed it.
This was positive news that helped paint a better-than-expected picture of the near future for Boeing.
