The loss is larger than Wall Street expected, and the company’s quarterly revenue also fell short of expectations.
Boeing said on Wednesday it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter and suffered big write-downs and losses in both its civil and defense aircraft businesses.
The loss was larger than Wall Street had forecast, and the company’s quarterly revenue also fell short of expectations. Boeing spent $3.2 billion in cash.
“A messier quarter than any of us would have liked,” CEO David Calhoun acknowledged on CNBC news.
Shares of Chicago-based Boeing Co fell 10 percent shortly after the opening bell on Wednesday.
However, Boeing offered some optimism for the improvement, saying it has laid out plans to resume deliveries of its 787 airliner and increased production and deliveries of the 737 MAX airliner during the quarter.
Calhoun said the company was on track to be cash flow positive for the full year “despite pressures on our defense and business development programs.”
The quarterly report brought disappointing news for Boeing shareholders on several fronts.
The company again delayed the long-awaited first delivery of a new version of its long-range, twin-aisle 777 airliner by at least a year to 2025. The move was widely expected as Boeing adapts to certification standards being They have hardened ever since. regulators approved the MAX, then were forced to ground the planes after two deadly crashes.
The delay in the planned approval of the 777-9 caused Boeing to forecast $1.5 billion in “abnormal” production costs.
Boeing took a $660 million charge for its program to build new Air Force One presidential jets, which it blamed on higher supplier costs, late technical requirements and schedule delays. He also took $367 million in charges on a military training aircraft.
Boeing said it has submitted plans to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume deliveries of the 787 airliner. Those deliveries have been halted for more than a year over production problems that Boeing said would add about of $2 billion in costs, of which $312 million were recorded in the first quarter.
Airlines are expecting a booming summer, with large numbers of travelers returning after two years of the coronavirus pandemic. But some of them, like American Airlines, have cut summer schedules because they haven’t received the Boeing 787s they ordered years ago.
“They have a busy summer schedule. We’ve already let them down in terms of capacity in that daylight saving time,” Calhoun said. When Boeing will receive clearance to resume 787 deliveries is up to the FAA, but Calhoun said, “We’ll be back in the air sooner rather than later.”
Boeing expects to increase production of the 737 MAX to 31 planes per month in the current quarter, which runs through June. That plane was grounded around the world for almost two years after the accidents.
And Boeing took $212 million in pretax charges related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company did not immediately explain the writedown.
In a memo to employees, Calhoun said Boeing is taking steps to improve long-term performance.
“We are a long-cycle business and the success of our efforts will be measured over years and decades, not quarters,” he said.
Boeing’s commercial aircraft division lost $859 billion, hampered by an inability to deliver 787 jets as Boeing tries to fix production flaws in the twin-aisle jet.
The defense business, long a bulwark against volatility in aircraft sales to airlines, lost $929 million and revenue fell 24 percent.
The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of $1.22 billion, compared with a loss of $537 million a year earlier. The “basic” loss was $2.75 a share on revenue of $13.99 billion. Analysts had expected a loss of 25 cents a share on revenue of $16.02 billion, according to a FactSet survey.