(01/11/11) Boeing Delivers and Over-Delivers

Boeing Delivers and Over-Delivers

01/11/2011 3:07 pm EST•2 min read •Tickers: BA

Founder and Editor

JubakPicks.com

It’s one thing to announce that you’re going to ramp up production. That’s what Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) did back on December 20, when it said that it would increase the rate at which it built its 777 plane to 8.3 per month in the first quarter of 2011. That was an increase from the seven-per-month production schedule announced last March, which was itself an increase from five.

It’s another to actually sell and deliver the planes. On January 6, Boeing announced stronger-than-expected deliveries of its 777 and 737 models in the fourth quarter of 2010. (It’s sometimes hard to remember, while we wait for January 26 news on a revised, revised, revised schedule for the first delivery of the much-delayed 787 Dreamliner, that Boeing is still churning out other models to meet a huge backlog of orders.)

Wall Street was expecting deliveries of 107 to 110 planes for the quarter, but deliveries for the quarter added up to 116. An increase of six to nine units wouldn’t count for much if we were talking wing nuts, but a Boeing 777 goes for $200 million to $250 million, so we’re talking a hunk of revenue here.

Way back on December 15, I wrote in this post that investors shouldn’t wait for good news on the troubled Dreamliner before beginning to accumulate Boeing shares. That day, the stock traded at $64.49. On January 7, after the news on higher deliveries, the shares were still just $68.80—still a good entry point.

As of January 11, I’m leaving my target price at $83 a share by September 2011.

Full disclosure: I don’t own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this post in my personal portfolio. The mutual fund I manage, Jubak Global Equity Fund (JUBAX), may or may not now own positions in any stock mentioned in this post. The fund did own shares of Boeing as of the end of November. For a full list of the stocks in the fund as of the end of November, see the fund’s portfolio here. I’ll have the fund’s portfolio as of the end of December posted in a few days.