Boeing said Wednesday that it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter as it and took large write-downs and lost money in both its civilian-airplane and defense businesses.
The loss was bigger than Wall Street had forecast, and the company's quarterly revenue also fell short of expectations. Boeing burned through $3.2 billion in cash.
“Messier quarter than any of us would have liked," CEO David Calhoun acknowledged on CNBC.
Shares of Boeing Co., based in Chicago, fell 10% shortly after the opening bell Wednesday.
Boeing offered some optimism for improvement, however, saying that it has submitted plans to resume deliveries of its 787 airliner and it increased production and deliveries of the 737 Max passenger jet during the quarter.
Calhoun said the company was on track to generate positive cash flow over the entire year "despite the pressures on our defense and commercial development programs.”
The quarterly report brought disappointing news for Boeing shareholders on several fronts.
The company again pushed back the expected first delivery of a new version of its long-range, twin-aisle 777 passenger jet by at least a year until 2025. The move was widely expected, as Boeing adapts to certification standards that have been tightened since regulators approved the Max, then were forced to ground the planes after two deadly crashes.
The delay in expected approval for the 777-9 caused Boeing to forecast $1.5 billion in “abnormal” production costs.
Boeing took a $660 million charge for its program to build new presidential Air Force One jets, which it blamed on higher supplier costs, final technical requirements and schedule delays. It also took $367 million in charges on a military training jet.
Boeing said it submitted plans to the Federal Aviation Administration to resume deliveries of the 787 passenger jet. Those deliveries have been halted for more than a year by production issues that Boeing previously said would add about $2 billion in costs, of which $312 million was recorded in the first quarter.
Airlines are expecting a boom summer, with travelers returning in huge numbers after two years of pandemic. But some of them, like American, have trimmed summer schedules because they haven't received the Boeing 787s that they ordered years ago.
“They have a busy summer schedule. We have already disappointed them with respect to the capacity on that summer schedule," Calhoun said. Just when Boeing will be cleared to resume deliveries of 787s is up to the FAA, but Calhoun said “We will be back in the air sooner rather than later.”
Boeing expects to boost production of the 737 Max to 31 planes a month in the current quarter, which runs through June. That plane was grounded worldwide for nearly two years after two deadly crashes.
And Boeing took $212 million in pretax charges related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company did not immediately explain the write-down.
In a memo to employees, Calhoun said Boeing is taking steps to improve long-term performance.
“We are a long-cycle business, and the success of our efforts will be measured over years and decades, not quarters,” he said.
Boeing's commercial-airplanes division lost $859 billion, hobbled by the inability to deliver 787 jets while Boeing tries to fix production flaws on the twin-aisle plane.
The defense business, long a bulwark against volatility in aircraft sales to airlines, lost $929 million as revenue fell 24%.
The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of $1.22 billion, compared with a loss of $537 million a year earlier. The “core” loss was $2.75 a share on revenue of $13.99 billion. Analysts expected a loss of 25 cents per share on revenue of $16.02 billion, according to a FactSet survey.
Business communication platform Slack, recently released its fifth wave of results from its global workplace survey from its Future Forum consortium, showing that the workforce has already moved to a split between working from home and going to the office. “We are now officially in the hybrid era of work,” Slack Future Forum VP Sheela Subramanian said when discussing the findings. "Hybrid is a work model where people can come into the office as well as work remotely, and what we're seeing is that the majority of knowledge workers are now in this arrangement — and that number is set to grow."
Legal cannabis businesses are having a hard time surviving in California with the high cost of doing business and a still-thriving illicit market. In response, nonprofit Supernova Women, founded by women of color, is advocating on behalf of Black and brown shareholders in the cannabis industry. Amber Senter, co-founder, executive director, and chairman of the organization, spoke with Cheddar News about calling for changes in the Golden State's taxation system for legal marijuana. "We're really leaning on the legislators now to support the industry and make sure that this industry, in particular craft cannabis, can survive," said Senter.
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Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, founder of Strategy + Rest,
joins Cheddar News to discuss UK's pilot four-day workweek and its impact on workers' mental health.
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Actor and singer Chrissy Metz, who stars as Kate Pearson in "This Is Us," is partnering with Capital One Auto Navigator to share her story of purchasing her first car to help make car buying easier for others. "For me, I know a car was so important because of course it took me to the auditions to get me to the place I have today," she said. "But it also means empowerment and freedom and accessibility, and I think everybody is deserving and in need of that." Metz also discussed the final season of her hit show, noting that expectations for the finale "will probably be exceeded."
Tire manufacturer Michelin is partnering with the popular video game "The Sims FreePlay" in order to meet teens where they are to promote driving safety. Michelin North America Chairman and President Alexis Garcin joined Cheddar News to discuss how the #GoldenGauge program integrates with the game. "If you're a gamer yourself or your kids, then while you're driving and moving on the application, you will find a Michelin billboard, and if you engage with that billboard, then you will get some advice about how tires are critical for your safety on the road," Garcin explained. *Updated with the full title of 'The Sims FreePlay' and a typo fix in the name of Alexis Garcin.*
The video game industry has come a long way from the first commercialized 3D video game in 1980, but it still has a long way to go. Video game creators have recently been called out for not having realistic Black hairstyles in their games and graphic artists are now taking matters into their own hands by creating The Open Source Afro Hair Library. Jovan Wilson, 3D artist and resident for The Open Source Afro Hair Library, joined All Hands to discuss.
After reporting record deliveries in Q4, expectations are high for Tesla's Q4 earnings call. Garrett Nelson, senior analyst and VP of equity research at CFRA, joined Cheddar News to discuss predictions about the report and what he sees as the emphasis on the EV maker's future. "We think the focal point of the release is really going to be on their guidance for 2022, the timing of the ramp-up of their new factories in Texas and Germany in the face of these chip shortages and supply chain issues, and also next steps in its long-term growth plans," he noted.
