After all the trouble that aerospace giant Boeing (NYSE:BA) has had lately, things were starting to look like they were leveling out. With new safety plans in the works and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about to get out of the way, things might have been brightening. I say “might” here because new troubles for Boeing emerged just earlier today from a completely different and somewhat familiar entity – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That was enough to send Boeing shares down fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Chairperson Lina Khan described Boeing as a “too big to fail” monopoly power after it bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997. That effectively made Boeing the sole producer of commercial jetliners in the United States and, Khan notes, gave it far too much market power. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this kind of thing from Khan; Khan has used the same line of reasoning against a host of companies since taking the chair slot of the FTC.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Boeing Version
While the FTC isn’t actually taking action against Boeing—at least, not yet, anyway—this is just the latest in a string of troubles socking the aircraft maker. For instance, reports noted that identifying the employee who worked on the door that malfunctioned on the Alaska Airlines flight will be much more difficult now, as security video footage had been “overwritten.”
Worse, another Boeing plane suffered “a possible mechanical issue” on a flight from Fort Worth, Texas, to Los Angeles, California. The plane landed without incident but the flight had apparently blown out a tire upon takeoff from Fort Worth. All of this adds up and continues hurting Boeing’s image, which it certainly doesn’t need right now.
What Is the Prediction for Boeing Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 15 Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 8.43% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $261.21 per share implies 44.28% upside potential.
