Aircraft maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) hasn’t had it easy lately, and the newest whistleblower report suggests that things might actually get worse. Investors, meanwhile, are taking the news with a grain of salt, sending shares down fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading session. The latest report by Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour, offers up a downright terrifying notion: the Boeing Dreamliner 787 could “break apart” in flight.
Apparently, the Dreamliners have “structural failings” that could actually cause catastrophic failure. Salehpour suggested that the fuselages were improperly fastened together as Boeing attempted to meet production goals and cut corners accordingly.
Boeing, for its part, disputes this notion and declares that it is “fully confident” in the 787. Of course, its full confidence does mean a bit less than it used to, given the string of mechanical failures seen in recent weeks.
Boeing Trying to Rebuild Trust
Boeing officials were recently seen working on “trust building” down in Latin America. President Landon Loomis noted that Boeing was in the midst of “…a deep fundamental trust-building exercise that has to flow through our entire factory, our engagements with the press, with government stakeholders, with our own employees.”
And this comes at a good time, too, as Boeing’s trust took another hit after word emerged that Boeing spent half a million bucks more than it had already disclosed paying for executives’ personal private jet trips.
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 one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 18.12% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $241 per share implies 38.4% upside potential.
