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Boeing May Replace Best Product: the 737

Fri, 07 May 2010 14:46:47 EDT

SEATTLE -- (TheStreet) Boeing is preparing to replace the most successful aircraft in history.

"The indications I'm getting are that they are leaning towards a new airplane, not a re-engineer," said consultant Scott Hamilton, founder of Leeham Co., which publishes an online newsletter about aircraft manufacturers. The most recent edition quotes a report by Buckingham Research analyst Richard Safran, who wrote that Boeing is likely to drop its widely assumed plan to re-engine the 737 in favor of developing a new airplane. "Current thinking (by Boeing) could be leaning towards a new airplane," Safran wrote.

Boeing has said repeatedly that it may re-engine the 737, in concert with the development of new products from engine manufacturers. But it is not dismissing the suggestion that it could develop a new aircraft altogether. ...

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Boeing Delays Shipment of Some 787 Parts

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:40:14 EDT

SEATTLE (TheStreet) -- Boeing is delaying shipment of some fuselage parts of its 787 Dreamliner to its final assembly factory, the company said.

A Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokeswoman told the Associated Press Tuesday that final assembly of the 787 is continuing at its Everett, Wash., plant and that the temporary delay won't affect work under way. Boeing remains on track to deliver the first 787 to a customer late this year, she told the AP.

Boeing asked the companies that make the large sections of the 787 jetliner to hold back shipping the assemblies for two of the jets for about a month, the AP reports. Some of the manufacturers are having difficulty getting components to finish their sections and some need to complete engineering and design changes Boeing desires, AP says. ...

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Boeing C-17 May Get Another Year

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:07:39 EDT

SEATTLE (TheStreet) -- Give the Boeing C-17 production line another year.

The U.S. Defense Department said it has notified Congress that the air force of India has an interest in acquiring 10 of the C-17 Globemaster III, a prerequisite to negotiations on a deal.

Boeing's current order book extends the C-17 production line through September 2012. If India and the U.S. government reach agreement for a sale of the 10 C-17s, Boeing anticipates that the line would survive another year as a result. ...

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Aircraft Nosedive Durable Goods

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:50:25 EDT

By Dirk van Dijk, CFA of Zacks.com

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Non-defense aircraft was the reason for the drop in new orders for durable goods, which fell by 1.3% in March, well below expectations for an increase of 0.1%.

Offsetting this were positive revisions to February, where new durable goods orders are now estimated to have risen by 1.1% instead of the original estimate of 0.9%. If transportation equipment orders are excluded, then new orders rose by 2.8%, far above the 0.7% expected rate. Orders for goods other than Transportation were also revised up sharply for February, to an increase of 1.7% from 1.4%. ...

Boeing Looks to Build More 737s

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:59:53 EDT

SEATTLE (TheStreet) -- Boeing said it is evaluating an increase in production of its 737, the mainstay of its commercial aircraft business.

The company has a "solid backlog" of orders for the 737, which is in fact "oversold" over the next two years, said CEO Jim McNerney on an earnings conference call. "That is the bias in the evaluation right now," he said, noting a decision will be made in the current quarter on whether to increase production from the current 31 aircraft per month. "These rate adjustments are significant business decisions for us." >>Boeing Net Income Drops 15%

Despite an 18% drop in first quarter earnings to $519 million, excluding items, Boeing said its outlook is favorable. Development of the 787 is on schedule, with the first delivery expected by the end of the year. Production is expected to reach ten a month by the end of 2013, with three of those built at Boeing's new Charleston, S.C. facility, which is under construction. ...

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Lockheed Profit Falls; Forecast Reduced

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:14:50 EDT

BETHESDA, Md. (TheStreet) -- Lockheed Martin, the defense company, said first-quarter earnings fell 18% as it recorded a charge from changes to health care legislation.

Lockheed said earnings were $547 million, or $1.45 a share, down from year-earlier earnings of $666 million, or $1.68 a share. The latest quarter included a charge of $96 million, or 25 cents a share, from legislation that eliminates the tax deduction for benefit costs reimbursed under Medicare Part D.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast Lockheed would earn $1.34 a share in the first quarter. ...

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EADS Seeks U.S. Partner for Tanker Pact

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:10:40 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Airbus parent EADS will compete head-to-head with Boeing for a U.S. military refueling plane contract worth up to $50 billion and said it's in discussions with potential U.S. partners.

EADS North America said it intends to submit a proposal in July.

EADS CEO Louis Gallois said Wednesday "it is indispensable to have a partner," Reuters reports. ...

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Boeing Will Win, EADS Will Lose, Poll Says

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- After having a roughly $35 billion U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling tanker contract reneged on by the government when its auditors decided to uphold U.S. rival Boeing's protest against the 2008 agreement, Airbus' European parent EADS looks to be gunning for the contract again, this time without partner Northrop Grumman.

The latter had bowed out of the latest bidding race, citing an uneven playing field favoring Boeing.

As the industry anxiously awaited news confirming that EADS would indeed bid for the latest contract and that the Pentagon would indeed grant the company a 90-day extension to have more time to prepare for a bid -- while already having granted the company prime-contractor status -- we asked TheStreet users whether the odds are stacked against EADS in winning the refueling plane contract. ...

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EADS vs. Boeing: Who's Got the Advantage?

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:45:35 EDT

(Boeing, EADS article updated with comments from French President Nicolas Sarkozy)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The drama behind the fight to build U.S. aerial-refueling planes continues, as Airbus parent EADS swoops in to take a shot at winning the lucrative prize worth tens of billions of dollars. But whether the company has a fair shot at winning the deal remains to be seen.

Back in February 2008, EADS and Northrop Grumman had together beaten Boeing for the roughly $35 billion contract to supply refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force. It was a big upset for Boeing, but Boeing's loss ended up being short-lived. ...

SAIC Shares Fall on Scaled-Back Views

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:30:16 EDT

(SAIC item updated for closing stock prices and to correct a misreported figure. Analysts were looking for per-share earnings of 32 cents in the quarter, not 31 cents.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of SAIC, a government contractor that provides advanced cyber-defense services, tumbled 6% Wednesday afternoon in heavy trading after the company scaled back financial expectations for the coming year.

SAIC blamed the weaker outlook on delayed decisions by the government on certain of its bids for big contracts. ...

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Boeing to Take $150 Million Charge on Health Care

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:22:57 EDT

Boeing said Wednesday that it expects to recognize an income tax charge of about $150 million as a result of the new health care law.

Boeing says it will no longer be able to claim an income tax deduction related to prescription drug benefits provided to retirees and reimbursed under the Medicare Part D retiree drug subsidy, beginning in 2013. ...

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FAA May Slap Northwest With $1.5M Fine

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:03:19 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $1.45 million fine against Delta's Northwest Airlines for operating a number of its Boeing 757 aircraft without proper windshield wiring inspections.

The FAA states that Northwest, before it was acquired by Delta, wrote maintenance instructions for its mechanics in April 1990 that omitted the required inspection of the wires under the first officer's window. Consequently, 32 of the carrier's 757s flew more than 90,000 passenger flights between Dec. 1, 2005 and May 27, 2008 out of compliance.

The FAA says Northwest has 30 days to respond to its notice. ...

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Triumph to Buy Vought Aircraft for $1.44B

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:31:30 EDT

WAYNE, Pa. (TheStreet) -- Triumph Group signed an agreement to buy Vought Aircraft from private-equity firm Carlyle Group for cash and stock of $1.44 billion, including the retirement of Vought debt.

Triumph will pay about 7.5 million shares and $525 million of cash for Vought. Carlyle will own about 31% of the stock of Triumph once the deal closes.

The deal is expected to close in July. ...

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Boeing Will Build More Planes

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:34:40 EDT

SEATTLE TheStreet) -- Surging Boeing says demand for aircraft is growing, as well as its share price.

This year's Dow leader said Friday it will accelerate planned production rate increases for both the 777 and the 747-800 as the world's airlines participate in the economic recovery. Ten days ago, Boeing signaled the production schedule change.

Instead of boosting 777 production from five aircraft to seven aircraft per month in early 2012, Boeing will make the change in mid-2011. That will diminish by six months the impact of a planned cutback from seven to five aircraft, scheduled to take place this June. ...

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U.S. May Extend Tanker Deadline for EADS

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:35:24 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Pentagon has said it would extend a bid with a May 10 deadline for a tanker contract after Airbus parent EADS expressed interest in joining the bid.

Earlier this month, Northrop Grumman dropped out of the race to win a $40 billion contract to build the Air Force's next generation of aerial-refueling planes, leaving Boeing as the sole competitor.

Northrop's partner in the proposal was Europe's EADS. Northrop and EADS won the last competition for the contract in February 2008. But the deal was canceled after government auditors decided to uphold a Boeing protest. ...

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