It was exciting news in its own right that aerospace company Boeing (NYSE:BA) finally managed to get its Starliner off the ground and into space, but as it turns out, the launch didn’t come without problems. Nor is Boeing’s time in space going all that smoothly. Investors, however, are still riding the wave that got Boeing into space in the first place, and shares are up fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading session.
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The first problem was a familiar one, as helium leaks began to crop up throughout the system. Three such leaks popped up within the first 12 hours after liftoff. Although one of the leaks was actually known about beforehand—and a plan was in place to address it—two of the leaks happened following the establishment of the management plan.
However, this could apparently be fixed by closing valves servicing the area in question. With the fixes seeming to hold, Boeing then took aim at a docking procedure with the International Space Station.
If It Weren’t for Bad Luck…
Boeing’s docking procedure, set to start at 12:15 pm ET today, did not go as planned. Given all the issues that led up to the launch, this will probably not come as a surprise to anyone. The 12:15 docking run did not go off, as just under 20% of Starliner’s reaction-control thrusters malfunctioned.
With five out of the 28 thrusters involved not working, the 12:15 window was passed up accordingly. However, the mission team on board the craft managed to get four out of the five affected thrusters back up and running and made the next docking window at 1:45 pm ET today.
Is Boeing Stock a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 17 Buys, seven Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.63% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $215.87 per share implies 12.96% upside potential.
