Military

After 777 and 787 Dreamliner Concerns, Is Boeing's 13% Stock Drop Too Much?

Investors often look at a 5% or a 10% correction in the stock market as their chance to buy in. They consider it “on sale” if a bull market theme is intact. But what about when individual key companies driving the market fall by 5% or 10%? Is that a bargain?

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is down by more than just 5% or 10% from its recent peak. With the stock down 2.5% at $125.35 in mid-day trading on Monday, Boeing shares are down more than 13% from the all-time high of $144.57.

Monday’s driving force is twofold. They cover the Boeing 777 and the 787 Dreamliner. Both could be real problems, but both problems could also have nearly nothing directly to do with Boeing.

First came word of cracks in 787 Dreamliner wings. What is interesting here is that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries told Boeing that hairline cracks have been found in some parts of the wing assembly. The company was told that it could be two weeks before the necessary repairs were being made to the 43 Dreamliners affected. No existing planes that have been shipped are said to have the issues.

Then there is the mystery around the Malaysian Air jet — a Boeing 777 — that went missing this last weekend. Nothing is known of this crash. Reports have discussed potential terrorism with two men onboard having stolen passports. Other reports have speculated over a rapid mid-air disintegration. The reality is that nobody knows for sure. Sadly, we may never learn what really happened.

The 787 Dreamliner has faced many delays and many issues before its launch. It has also faced many issues afterward, but by the fourth quarter of 2013 Boeing ended up being the strongest performing Dow Jones Industrial Average Stock of 2013. We would also point out that the 777 has flown more flights than we could easily count — almost 5 million flights with more than 18 million flight hours, according to the 777 Family Facts site from Boeing.

Investors are quick to jump into broad stock market corrections if they think the market is on sale. They are far less likely to say the exact same thing about individual stocks. After all, stocks often fluctuate much more wildly than the broad stock market.

So is a 13% sale enough to merit the risk? It depends on whom you ask. Boeing’s peak of $144.57 actually took place on January 22, 2014. So that sell-off of 13% is over only six weeks. Boeing’s adjusted closing price of $135.72 on December 31, 2013 makes the drop not look so bad at -7.6% year-to-date.

Jim Cramer said on CNBC that it is OK to let stocks come in more as the market may have been overbought again. Just keep in mind that the consensus price target from analysts is up around $153, and also that the highest price was up at $175 on last look.

Boeing shares are still actually above where they fell to in early February. They went under $120 briefly, and now the 200-day moving average is down at $118.65 and the 50-day moving average is up at $132.24.

Stay tuned.

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