Military

Boeing Held On to Remain DJIA's Top Stock Despite Friday Bloodbath

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Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) continues to hold on to its top ranking as the best-performing stock for the year to date among the 30 equities that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Even after Friday’s 666-point drop in the Dow, Boeing stock ended the week with a share price gain of nearly 1.7% and a year-to-date gain of about 17.2%.

The second-best performer among the Dow 30 so far this year is Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV), up about 9.1%, followed by Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) with about a 7.5% gain. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up about 7.3%, and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is up about 6.9%.

The Dow did not post an all-time high last week. In fact, the index posted a loss on every day last week except Thursday, when it managed a gain of about 0.4%. Overall, the index dropped 4% last week.

Boeing reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2017 results on Thursday, and the stock added more than 6% by the end of the trading day. Leaving out a tax benefit of $1.74 per share, the company still beat earnings per share and revenue expectations. Operating cash flow of $13.3 billion was well above the company’s estimated range of $12.0 billion to $12.5 billion.

The company also guided new deliveries for this year to a range of 800 to 815 commercial planes, sharply higher than the record 763 it delivered this year. Boeing is increasing its production rate on the 737 from 47 to 52 per month, and the backlog of orders going into 2018 was 5,864, valued at $488 billion on contract (not list) prices.

Little wonder, then, that investors pushed shares higher.

Boeing’s shares closed down about 2.5% Friday, at $348.91 in a 52-week range of $160.82 to $361.45. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock is $371.26, up $24.76 in the past week. The low end of the price target range is $240 and the high end is $470.

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