Al Root

Boeing stock rose early Monday after catching an upgrade and ticking another box in its turnaround agenda.

Shares of the airplane maker were up 1.7% at $180.98, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

On Sunday evening, Airbus and fuselage Spirit AeroSystems announced an agreement to transfer ownership of some Spirit facilities to Airbus. Boeing is acquiring Spirit to improve quality and gain more control over its supply chain.

A Spirit part was involved in the Jan. 6, 2024, emergency-door-plug blowout of an Alaska Air Group 737 MAX 9 while it was in flight. That incident led to slower production and more regulatory scrutiny for Boeing. One step Boeing decided to take was to reacquire Spirit, which it had sold to private equity in 2005.

Over the past 20 years, Spirit has secured some business from Airbus, but going forward Airbus doesn't want to depend on its chief rival as a supplier.

Spirit's deal with Boeing was announced in July 2024. Boeing is paying $37.25 a share. Spirit stock was up 2.6% at $35.81 in premarket trading, leaving it 4% below the offering price. Airbus will, essentially, be paid to take the Spirit business back.

Spirit hasn't generated positive annual operating income since 2019 and has needed financial assistance to meet its obligations.

Completing the Spirit deal is another step on Boeing's road to recovery. Boeing hasn't produced full-year operating profit since 2018, the year before the second tragic 737 MAX crash that grounded the jet worldwide between March 2019 and November 2020.

There was another thing helping Boeing stock on Monday. On Monday, Bernstein upgraded Boeing stock to Buy from Hold, according to ratings aggregators. The stock price target went to $218 from $181.

Upgrades typically boost stocks. Following the positive call, about 65% of analysts covering the stock rate the share a Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target for Boeing stock is about $200 a share.

Analyst sentiment has been improving. About 50% of analysts rated shares Buy to start the year, and the average analyst price target was closer to $175.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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April 28, 2025 07:35 ET (11:35 GMT)

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