Boeing stock sinks 10% as 737 production goals slip into 2027
Boeing shares fell nearly 10% Tuesday, their worst day since April 2025, after the company said it will miss this year's 737 production and delivery targets and pushed its cash-flow goals out. Revenue rose 4% to $24.2 billion and its loss narrowed to $116 million.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
Boeing shares fell 9.6% to $170.23 on Tuesday, their worst day since April 3, 2025, Reuters reported, after the planemaker said it will miss its 737 production target and its goal of 500 jet deliveries this year. The drop kept the Dow roughly flat on a day when the Nasdaq rose about 1% and the S&P 500 gained about 0.6%, according to AP.
The numbers: Third-quarter revenue rose 4% to $24.2 billion, from $23.3 billion a year earlier, Boeing said. Its net loss shrank to $116 million, or 26 cents a share, from $5.3 billion a year ago; the core loss was 34 cents a share. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected an adjusted loss of 21 cents and revenue of $23.84 billion, CNBC reported. Boeing delivered 161 commercial planes, one more than a year earlier, and its order backlog hit a record $745 billion, including more than 6,300 airliners.
Why the stock fell, the 737 timeline slipped: Boeing builds about 47 737 MAX jets a month now, CNBC reported, and wing production is the bottleneck, according to Reuters. The company now expects to hold 47 a month steadily in early 2027; as recently as May, executives said that would happen this summer. CEO Kelly Ortberg is aiming for 52 a month in the second half of 2027. "I know everybody wants us to go faster but we're going to do it right," he said, per CNBC.
Why it matters
Boeing is one of the 30 stocks in the Dow and one of only two big makers of large airliners, so its pace matters to airlines waiting on jets, to its suppliers and to investors. A slower 737 ramp means fewer deliveries and less cash, which Boeing needs to keep paying down the $25.2 billion in net debt it reported for the quarter.
More context
Cash is the other worry: Boeing generated $464 million in free cash flow in the quarter but has burned $359 million so far this year, Reuters reported, though it still expects about $2 billion by year-end. Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave guided to about $3 billion of free cash flow next year; Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said analysts had expected $5.5 billion. Boeing's $10 billion annual cash target is now set for 2029, a year later than investors expected. "The market is going to punish any delay in increasing cash flow," Gabelli Funds' Tony Bancroft told Reuters.
Where it's improving: The commercial jet unit's revenue fell 3% to $10.7 billion and it lost $697 million, but its operating margin of minus 6.5% compares with minus 48.3% a year earlier, per Reuters. Defense revenue rose 15% to $7.9 billion, with the unit earning nearly $500 million, helped by a $252 million gain from selling HRL Laboratories. Global Services earned about $1 billion. Boeing said the 737-7 and 737-10 won FAA certification in October and that the Navy selected it for the F/A-XX fighter. Net debt fell to $25.2 billion from $30.4 billion a year earlier, Reuters said. The Wall Street Journal noted that charges included roughly $700 million tied to a Justice Department settlement.
How outlets framed it: CNBC led with Ortberg's slower 737 ramp and his "do it right" pledge. Reuters led with the missed production and delivery targets and the delayed cash goals. The Wall Street Journal's headline split the difference: "Boeing Turnaround Shows Progress but Commercial Unit Sputters." All three agree on the core tension: the factory is steadier and losses are far smaller than a year ago, but output and cash are rising more slowly than Wall Street wanted.
The 737 rate goal, as Boeing has described it: In May, executives expected to reach 47 jets a month this summer. On Tuesday, that moved to early 2027, with 52 a month targeted for the second half of 2027, according to Reuters and CNBC.
5 listed sources
- Boeing third-quarter results press release, Oct. 27, 2026
- CNBC (Leslie Josephs), Oct. 27, 2026
- Reuters via Investing.com (Dan Catchpole, Shivansh Tiwary), Oct. 27, 2026
- The Wall Street Journal (Drew FitzGerald), Oct. 27, 2026
- AP markets report, Oct. 27, 2026
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Results come from Boeing's third-quarter earnings release. Stock moves, analyst estimates, guidance and executive comments come from CNBC, Reuters (via Investing.com) and The Wall Street Journal; market context from AP. Analyst forecasts are estimates, not company figures. The hero photo is a file photo (2019) of Boeing's Renton, Wash., factory, where the 737 is assembled; the body photo is a 2025 file photo of CEO Kelly Ortberg.
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