JPMorgan says door plug incident has range of potential outcomes

JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman keeps an Overweight rating on Boeing (BA) with a $270 price target after a door plug blew out of Alaska Airlines’ MAX 9. The firm’s view remains that Boeing’s key task over the next two years is to ramp production and deliveries of 737s and 787s. Friday’s 737 MAX 9 accident is “obviously not helpful in this regard but the extent of the setback is not yet clear, with a range of potential outcomes,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. A key question is how regulators address the incident and while the Federal Aviation Administration’s initial requirement for a 4-8 hour inspection did not seem like a major impediment to a return to service, the path back has become less clear since then, says JPMorgan. “One thing we can say, however, is that it is imperative for Spirit (SPR) and Boeing to shore up the quality of production,” the firm contends.