Boeing Stock: Bull vs. Bear; 2 Wall Street Analysts Battle It Out

Boeing (NYSE: BA) has become a battleground among investors and Wall Street analysts. That point hit home recently when a Wells Fargo analyst maintained an underweight rating on the stock and slapped it with a $113 price target, while a Citi analyst reiterated a buy and a $210 target. Such widely diverging views deserve some analysis to help investors decide about the stock.As the Wells Fargo analyst notes, Boeing is nowhere near the outlook given on its investor day in 2025. The outlook's cornerstone was that Boeing would hit $10 billion in free cash flow (FCF) in the 2025/2026 time frame. Boeing won't get anywhere close. In fact, the Wall Street analyst consensus is for an outflow of $4.9 billion in 2025 and then an FCF generation of $5.7 billion.It gets worse. It's important to note the difference between FCF and FCF per share here. At the end of 2022, Boeing had around 600 million shares in issue, and an FCF of $10 billion equates to $16.66 per share. However, due to rising debt levels, Boeing was forced to shore up its balance sheet by selling 112.5 million shares last year, diluting existing shareholders' claims on FCF in the process.Continue reading

Mar 26, 2025 - 23:54
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Boeing Stock: Bull vs. Bear; 2 Wall Street Analysts Battle It Out

Boeing (NYSE: BA) has become a battleground among investors and Wall Street analysts. That point hit home recently when a Wells Fargo analyst maintained an underweight rating on the stock and slapped it with a $113 price target, while a Citi analyst reiterated a buy and a $210 target. Such widely diverging views deserve some analysis to help investors decide about the stock.

As the Wells Fargo analyst notes, Boeing is nowhere near the outlook given on its investor day in 2025. The outlook's cornerstone was that Boeing would hit $10 billion in free cash flow (FCF) in the 2025/2026 time frame. Boeing won't get anywhere close. In fact, the Wall Street analyst consensus is for an outflow of $4.9 billion in 2025 and then an FCF generation of $5.7 billion.

It gets worse. It's important to note the difference between FCF and FCF per share here. At the end of 2022, Boeing had around 600 million shares in issue, and an FCF of $10 billion equates to $16.66 per share. However, due to rising debt levels, Boeing was forced to shore up its balance sheet by selling 112.5 million shares last year, diluting existing shareholders' claims on FCF in the process.

Continue reading