Is Boeing Stock A Real Bargain?

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Boeing (BA) stock trades at 17.8 times its earnings over the past twelve months, compared with 22.6 times for the median company in the S&P 500. The shares have lost 19.7% over the past year, while the S&P 500 returned 11.3%. That could be a good business on sale, or a fair price for a plane maker taking longer than it expected to raise production. So what does a buyer get at this price?

Boeing Has Growing Sales And A Record Backlog

A buyer gets a company whose sales are growing faster than most. Boeing’s revenue grew 17.5% over the twelve months to September 30, 2026, compared with 8.4% for the median S&P 500 company. Growth slowed to 3.9% in fiscal Q3 2026, but the orders behind it are large: management said on the October 27 call that Boeing holds a record backlog of $745 billion.

Management also said the US Navy has picked Boeing to design, build and deliver its sixth-generation fighter jet. Free cash flow came in higher than a year earlier, reaching $464 million in fiscal Q3 2026 compared with $238 million.

Boeing’s Twelve-Month Profit Came From One Quarter

The 17.8 multiple reflects net income of $7.66 billion over those twelve months. Boeing earned more than that in fiscal Q4 2025 alone, posting $8.22 billion. Management said that quarter’s earnings mainly reflected a gain from closing the sale of its Digital Aviation Solutions business. Yet the company’s operations lost $815 million in that same quarter, and it has reported a net loss in each of the three quarters since.

Boeing’s operations have improved a lot over three years, but only to about breakeven. The operating margin was a loss of 0.17% over the latest twelve months, compared with losses of 9.2% and 10.4% in the twelve-month periods ended September 2024 and 2025. That remains far below the 18.7% operating margin of the median S&P 500 company.

Commercial Airplanes, Boeing’s largest segment with $41.5 billion of revenue in fiscal 2025, is still losing money. Management put the unit’s operating margin at negative 6.5% in fiscal Q3 2026. It is taking longer than expected to run steadily at a rate of 47 a month, management also said, so it expects 2026 deliveries of the 737 to fall short of the 500 target.

What Is Boeing Doing About Its Airplane Factories?

Boeing is adding capacity to address areas where its earlier changes to the production line did not work. The company’s financial plan now targets a rate of 52 a month in the second half of 2027. Management said two more models of the 737, the 737-7 and the 737-10, have been certified, and jets built ahead of that approval will start delivering in early 2027.

The cash flow shows progress. Boeing generated $7 million in free cash flow over the twelve months to September 30, 2026, compared with negative $6.35 billion a year earlier. Management has set a far higher bar of about $10 billion of free cash flow in 2029, though it warned that legacy cash drags will weigh heavily on 2027. That 2029 target equals about 7% of Boeing’s $136 billion market value at the October 30 close.

What Would A Boeing Buyer Be Betting On?

A buyer at this price would be betting that Boeing fixes a real problem, not that the market has overlooked a sound business. Boeing’s defense and services units already report profits, so the bet is on Commercial Airplanes turning steadier production into cash. Take the $366 million from fiscal Q4 2025 out of the $7 million twelve-month total, and Boeing’s free cash flow was negative $359 million over the first nine months of 2026. Measured against management’s target of about $2 billion for the year, that is the number to watch when the company reports in January 2027.

What Would Another Fall In Boeing Do To Your Plan?

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