: Boeing’s stock leaps toward an 18-month high after big revenue, free cash flow beats amid strength in commercial airplanes

Shares of Boeing Co. BA jumped 4.4% toward an 18-month high in premarket trading Wednesday, after the aerospace and defense giant reported big second-quarter revenue and free cash flow beats, amid strength in its commercial airplanes business. Net losses widened to $563 million, or 93 cents a share, from $149 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, core per-share losses of 82 cents beat the FactSet loss consensus of 89 cents. Revenue leapt 18.4% to $19.75 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $18.59 billion. Free cash flow swung to a positive $2.58 billion from an outflow of $182 million, which was well above expectations of $88.7 million. The company affirmed its 2023 FCF guidance of $3.0 billion to $5.0 billion. Among Boeing’s business segments, commercial airplanes revenue flew 41% to $8.84 billion to beat the FactSet consensus of $7.57 billion; defense, space and security revenue was little changed at $6.17 billion to just miss expectations of $6.18 billion; and global services revenue grew 10% to $4.75 billion to top forecasts of $4.60 billion. Boeing’s stock has advanced 12.4% year to date through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA has gained 6.9%.

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