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Boeing concluded a challenging 2024 with a substantial $3.9 billion fourth-quarter loss, attributed in part to a seven-week labor strike that disrupted production. Despite these setbacks, the company's stock rose on investor confidence in new CEO Kelly Ortberg's turnaround strategy. Boeing officials have indicated their intention to ramp up 737 MAX production and clear existing inventory during 2025, expecting this to positively impact free cash flow.
Shares jumped nearly seven percent in mid-morning trading. Boeing's fourth quarter loss took the company's full-year loss -- its sixth in a row -- to $11.8 billion. The results were consistent with a January 23 profit warning in which Boeing flagged the impact of the labor strike on company operations.
The 31 percent drop in fourth-quarter revenues to $15.2 billion reflected a big hit from fewer plane deliveries, which came in at barely a third of the level in the 2023 period as the labor stoppage halted output on the 737 MAX and the 777. Boeing's performance was also badly marred by a troubled flight in January 2024 in which a 737 MAX flown by Alaska Airlines made an emergency landing after the plane suffered a mid-flight blowout on a window panel. Following that incident, Boeing faced intensified scrutiny from US air regulators and slowed output. Boeing has also continued to suffer from legacy fixed-cost defense contracts that have led to losses for the company. Boeing's profit warning flagged one-time costs of $1.7 billion in its defense, space and security division.
Ortberg stated that Boeing was actually a little ahead of where he had expected in terms of ramping up production on the 737 MAX, following the strike and the implementation of intensified process control checks after the Alaska Airlines incident.
