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Aerospace giant Boeing reported strong second-quarter jet deliveries. A larger number of orders meant that the backlog grew—that’s good for sales and earnings.
Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg
Boeing
delivered more jets than expected in the second quarter and shares are rising in Tuesday trading. Deliveries aren’t the biggest reason investors should be excited, though.
Commercial-aerospace giant Boeing (ticker: BA) delivered 136 commercial airliners in the second quarter, including 60 jets in June. April and May deliveries came in at 26 jets and 50 jets, respectively.
Growth is good, and Boeing stock is up 1.7% in midday trading while the
S&P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
are up 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.
Growth is good, but it’s an open question about what matters more to investors: Deliveries or orders. These days, deliveries seem to be what carries the day.
That makes some sense with both Boeing and
Airbus
(AIR. France) recovering from the Covid-19 downturn. The pandemic decimated air travel, and it also decimated the aerospace-supply chain. Component suppliers are struggling to ramp up production to meet normalizing demand for jets.
Investors shouldn’t lose sight of orders though. Boeing took in 407 new orders for jets in the second quarter. That is likely a gross order number, any cancellations aren’t included. Boeing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about order details. Still, orders easily exceeded deliveries meaning the backlog grew. That’s good for Boeing sales and…
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