ARLINGTON, VA—The Boeing Company delivered its fourth quarter results on Tuesday, January 28, clocking a 31% decrease in revenue from 2023 which it says was driven by the IAM strike and other factors. Net earnings for the quarter were a loss of $3.9 billion for an annual earnings loss of $11.8 billion. Annual revenues for 2024 were $66.5 billion, down 14% from the previous year’s $77.8 billion.
That strike, and subsequent work stoppage, was resolved during last year’s final quarter leading to a resumed production across the 737, 767 and 777/777X programs. However the company said that the impacts of the strike, in addition to charges of certain defense programs and costs associated with workforce reduction, attributed to a $5.46 GAAP loss per share and core (non-GAAP) loss per share of $5.90.
On a high note, in 2024 Boeing finalized 348 commercial airplanes, recorded 279 net orders, and its total company backlog grew to $521 billion which includes over 5,500 commercial airplanes.
However, its revenues for 2024 still dropped to $15.242 billion, from 2023’s revenues of $22.018 billion. Boeing reported operating cash flow of $3.5 billion and free cash flow of $4.1 billion (non-GAAP) last year, which it says reflect lower commercial deliveries as well as unfavorable working capital timing also driven by the IAM work stoppage.
“We made progress on key areas to stabilize our operations during the quarter and continued to strengthen important aspects of our safety and quality plan,” said Kelly Ortberg, Boeing president and chief executive officer. “My team and I are focused on making the fundamental changes needed to fully recover our company’s performance and restore trust with our customers, employees, suppliers, investors, regulators and all others who are counting on us.”
Boeing’s cash and investments in marketable securities totaled $26.3 billion, up from $10.5 billion at the beginning of the quarter which can be attributed to a $24 billion capital raise partially offset by free cash flow usage and debt repayment.
The company had a debt of $53.9 billion by the end of the quarter which was lower from the $57.7 billion it owed at the beginning of the quarter due to an early repayment of a $3.4 billion bond which originally matured in 2025. The company still maintains access to credit facilities of $10.0 billion, which remains undrawn.
Total company backlog at quarter end was $521 billion.
Boeing said Tuesday it plans to increase production of its 737 program this year while the 787 program exited out of 2024 at a rate of five aircraft per month. The company also plans to expand South Carolina operations. The 777X program resumed FAA certification flight testing earlier this month and the company said it is still on track to make first delivery of the 777-9 by 2026.
The report states that commercial Airplanes booked 204 net orders in the quarter, including 100 737-10 airplanes for Pegasus Airlines and 30 787-9 airplanes for flydubai. Commercial Airplanes delivered 57 airplanes during the quarter and the backlog included over 5,500 airplanes valued at $435 billion.
As for Defense, Space and Security, the company’s fourth quarter revenue of $5.4 billion and operation margin of 41.9% reflect pre-tax charge of $1.7 billion on the KC-46A, T-7A, Commercial Crew, VC-25B and MQ-25 programs.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Air Force announced an updated acquisition approach to the T-7A Red Hawk which allows Boeing to provide a more production-ready configuration to the customer, it sad prior to low-rate initial production all the while reducing future production risk.
During 2024’s final quarter Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security program secured a deal with the U.S. Air Force for 15 KC-46A Tankers, seven P-8A Poseidon aircrafts for the U.S. Navy, and delivered the final T-7A Red Hawk engineering and manufacturing development aircrafts to the U.S. Air Force. Its backlog, last quarter, was approximately $64 billion – 29% of which is from customers outside of the U.S. including orders of the C-17 for Japan.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
