In 2014 Boeing shares finished the year down nearly 5%, after posting a high in late January near $145. The Dow, which includes Boeing, rose 7.5% in 2014, so the company’s performance could certainly be described as disappointing.
Boeing’s 2014 sales total came in at the high end of the company’s forecast and the aircraft maker lifted its quarterly dividend from $0.73 to $0.91 per share in mid-December. That last move pushed the stock up from a recent low of down nearly 12% on the year.
Despite the dividend increase and the record-setting number of deliveries in 2014, Boeing is facing some headwinds. The stronger dollar is hurting a little. Arch-rival Airbus could be stealing sales in some areas. And net new orders were lower compared with 2013.
The company’s cash flow guidance is perhaps the most important number to watch for in Wednesday’s report. The other important number is what Boeing calls “deferred production costs.” As of last summer, the company estimated these costs on the 787 Dreamliner program at $25 billion, which Boeing will pay back as it sells each plane. Some analysts put the shortfall even higher and believe that Boeing will not be making a profit on the 787 until it sells at least 1,000 of the planes.
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The stock closed on Monday at $134.07 in a 52-week range of $116.32 to $138.39. The stock’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 15.32 and the price-to-book ratio is a rich 6.60. Short interest in the stock is rising again — at about 2.7% of the company’s float short interest is within 300,000 shares of its 12-month high.
Shares of traded at $132.55 in the early afternoon on Tuesday. The company’s stock has a consensus analyst price target of $150. Boeing has a market cap of around $94.5 billion.
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