Boeing skips guidance amidst ongoing 737 Max crisis

Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) says solid demand and deliveries helped narrow its loss in the fourth financial quarter. Shares of the aerospace giant are slightly up in premarket on Wednesday.

Why didn’t Boeing offer future guidance?

The aerospace giant is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration after the Alaska Airlines scare on January 5^th as Invezz reported here.

FAA has also blocked its plans of increasing production to 50 planes per month in 2025. Therefore, Boeing Co did not offer guidance for the future on Wednesday. According to its CEO Dave Calhoun:

We’ll simply focus on every next airplane, follow the lead of our regulator and ensure highest standard of safety and quality in all that we do. That is what will drive performance.

Boeing saw a 13.1% annualised growth in commercial airplanes and 9.1% in defense, space and security in its fiscal Q4 – both ahead of Street estimates.  

Boeing Q4 earnings snapshot

• Lost $2.22 billion versus the year-ago $4.94 billion
• Per-share loss also narrowed from $8.30 to $3.67
• Adjusted loss printed at 47 cents as per the press release
• Revenue went up 10% year-over-year to $22.02 billion
• Consensus was 78 cents loss on $21.1 billion revenue

Boeing reported $3.0 billion in free cash flow (adjusted) for its recently concluded quarter. CEO Calhoun also said on Wednesday:

As we move forward, we will support our customers, work transparently with our regulator and ensure we complete all actions to earn the confidence of our stakeholders.

Boeing stock is down nearly 20% versus the start of this year.