Boeing Company (BA) was summarily beaten by its traditional rival Airbus in fiscal 2009 in terms of commercial airplane delivery and order booking. Airbus delivered 498 airplanes in 2009 and recorded 271 net orders, compared to Boeing’s 481 commercial airplanes delivered and 142 net orders.
Airbus estimates it won orders valued at a net $30.3 billion in fiscal 2009, or 54% of all worldwide orders for aircraft larger than 100 seats. Airbus has a backlog of 3,488 airplanes, valued at $437.1 billion, or six years worth of full production. In comparison Boeing has a backlog of 3,375 commercial airplane orders.
Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jet liners and military aerospace products (based on total sales). Boeing designs and produces commercial airplanes, defense systems, and civil and defense space systems. It is also the largest NASA contractor. Non-airplane products include helicopters, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, rocket engines, launch vehicles, and advanced information and communication systems.
Boeing is one of the best-positioned companies among its defense peers due to its balanced exposure to commercial aircraft and defense equipment. Defense peers like Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) dabble only in defense equipment.
Going forward we believe Boeing’s $320 billion order backlog, strong order booking, stable cash flow generation and a globally diversified customer base will help maintain the growth momentum. However, a bearish commercial aerospace market, apprehension over growth in defense spending, and delays in the launch of the 787 series jetliner will affect Boeing’s performance in the near term.
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Read the full analyst report on “LMT”
Read the full analyst report on “NOC”
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