Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Boeing Stock Is Slipping. A Share Offering Is Coming, Says a Report.

 Boeing Stock Is Slipping. A Share Offering Is Coming, Says a Report.

By Al Root

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Oct 01, 2024, 8:34 am EDT

Boeing 

BA

+1.60%

’s balance sheet is a mess and the aerospace company is likely to raise new equity capital to help repair it. When and how much are the questions?

It could be sooner than later. Tuesday, Bloomberg reported

Boeing was weighing a $10 billion equity raise. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boeing stock was down 0.8% in premarket trading at $150.79, while S&P 500 

SPX

-0.64%

 and Dow Jones Industrial Average 

DJIA

-0.08%

 futures were down 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

The stock might not be down more because investors are well aware of the company’s financial situation. Amid 737 MAX design problems, the pandemic, and production quality problems, Boeing has amassed some $45 billion in debt, less cash balances, up from about $5 billion at the end of 2018.

The debt balance is almost six times estimated 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, and about four times estimated 2026 Ebitda. That’s too high. Investors typically take note when debt-to-Ebitda at an industrial company exceeds three times.

It would take roughly $15 billion in new equity—used to pay down debt—to return the 2026 debt-to-Ebitda ratio below three times. Some equity raise in the future is likely. Wells Fargo analyst Matthew Akers has suggested Boeing will raise about $30 billion in equity over time. Timing, however, is up in the air. Boeing, of course, would like to sell stock when the stock price is higher.

Coming into Tuesday trading, Boeing stock was down about 42% year to date, and down about 7% since a labor strike began on Sept. 13.

Akers rates Boeing stock at Sell. Tuesday, his price target dropped to $110 from $119. He cut his third-quarter estimates due to the strike. “Further out, we assume Boeing doesn’t hit 38 per month on 737 [MAX production] until second-half 2025 given it is now slowing suppliers,” wrote the analyst.

 

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