1 Green Flag for Boeing Stock Right Now

Key Points

• Boeing's commercial airplane business is making a recovery and regaining trust with airlines and investors.

• The aerospace giant's defense business has finally returned to profitability after a senior management change.

• 10 stocks we like better than Boeing ›

If you think that one executive can't change that much at Boeing (NYSE: BA), just ask shareholders at its partner, engine maker GE Aerospace, about its CEO, Larry Culp. While Boeing's CEO, Kelly Ortberg, is unlikely to generate the kind of returns that Culp has for the former General Electric investors, he is making great strides in improving matters at Boeing.

A heavyweight Boeing board hires Ortberg

Boeing's board of directors has been significantly improved in recent years, and it contains industrial heavyweights like Carrier Global CEO David Gitlin, former GE Aviation CEO David Joyce, and former United Technologies CFO Akhil Johri. Their choice of former Collins Aerospace CEO Ortberg (a colleague of both Gitlin and Johri at United Technologies) looks like a great decision.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Improvements all around

Since Ortberg's appointment in August 2024, Boeing has improved its production rate on the 737 MAX, reaching its initial target of 38 a month in the second quarter, and Ortberg expects Boeing will seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase production to 42 a month soon. Improving the production rate on the 737 MAX is the key to growing profit margin and cash flow at the company.

However, the most significant improvement is arguably in the defense business, Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). One of the first things Ortberg did was to replace BDS CEO Ted Colbert in September 2024 with Boeing veteran Steve Parker. As you can see in the chart below, BDS is now generating profit again, after a long period of losses.

Data source: Boeing presentations. Chart by author.

Most notably, Ortberg said BDS "had another good quarter on our fixed-price development programs" and held its estimated-at-completion (cost forecasts based on performance) for the second consecutive quarter. That's a big deal for a business which struggled to keep a lid on costs under Colbert.

It all points to improved execution at Boeing, and with a $619 billion backlog, there's plenty of potential for the improved execution to lead to profit growth at Boeing.

Should you invest $1,000 in Boeing right now?

Before you buy stock in Boeing, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Boeing wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $649,657!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,993!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,057% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025

Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends GE Aerospace. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.