Why Airbus Stock Is Falling Again

For the second day running, shares of Europe's Airbus (OTC: EADSY) are declining. As of 11:40 a.m. ET Friday, the aerospace giant's stock is down 2.9%, bringing losses for the past two days past 6%. But why?

Yesterday, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) told investors on its morning quarterly conference call that the airline intends to "minimize" any tariffs it might have to pay under President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again "reciprocal tariffs" initiative. Said Delta CEO Ed Bastian: "The one thing that you need to know we're very clear on is that we will not be paying tariffs on any aircraft deliveries we take. ... we've been clear with Airbus on that, and we'll work through and see what happens from that."

Start Your Mornings Smarter! Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free »

Reading between the lines

Now, you might think that's not really Delta's decision to make. The way tariffs work at a basic level is, the U.S. government sets a tariff rate on goods (like airplanes) imported from abroad. And then whoever imports those goods (like Delta) pays the tariff. Except Delta seems to be saying this is not going to happen, and the question then becomes, if Delta isn't paying the tariffs, then who is?

And the implication is that Airbus will have to pay the tariffs.

Either that, or Delta won't be buying the planes from Airbus. It might shop Boeing (NYSE: BA) instead.

Is it time to sell Airbus?

And now you can understand why Airbus investors are feeling a bit nervous for another day that their company may start losing airplane sales.

Don't get me wrong. That may happen. That may be a risk. Airbus builds planes primarily in Europe, after all, and Europe-built planes would be subject to tariffs, so those sales seem at-risk. However, Airbus does assemble some of its most popular A320 and A220 airplanes right here in the U.S. as well, and those planes should dodge tariffs easily. That may even be what Delta was referring to, that in order to avoid paying tariffs, it will still buy A320s from Airbus, and buy only its bigger aircraft from Boeing.

It's still not great news for Airbus, true. But it's not a total loss, and Airbus investors don't need to panic just yet.

Should you invest $1,000 in Airbus SE right now?

Before you buy stock in Airbus SE, 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 Airbus SE 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 $496,779!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $659,306!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 787% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 152% 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 April 10, 2025

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.