Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares a global commercial-jet duopoly with Airbus and is a major US defence and space contractor, but the 737 MAX grounding, the pandemic and years of cash burn made it one of the worst-performing Dow members. The dividend has been suspended since March 2020.
An aircraft only earns its margin at delivery. Manufacturing and quality failures, regulator-imposed production caps and debt left over from years of buybacks kept free cash flow negative.
Commercial Airplanes output drives group cash flow, Defense Space and Security carries fixed-price contract risk, Global Services is the highest-margin unit, and the multi-hundred-billion backlog only converts to cash through a production ramp.
Safety events and FAA production caps, heavy debt and equity dilution, supply-chain bottlenecks and strikes, and loss-making fixed-price defence programs such as the KC-46.
Each step up in monthly 737 rate has outsized free-cash-flow leverage, aftermarket services compound with fleet size, and long-run passenger growth plus fleet replacement keep demand intact.
Track monthly 737 and 787 deliveries, consecutive quarters of positive free cash flow, and falling net debt before calling the turn.
Note: figures assume dividends are reinvested. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Data updates daily.