BUY !!! Boeing Company (The) Common Sto (NYSE: BA )

The Boeing Company (BA: 72.60 +0.30 +0.41%) will supply 60 737-800 airplanes to Air Lease Corporation through 2017. Of the orders bagged, 54 are firm orders while the remaining 6 require reconfirmation.

Entering into the fourth quarter, this is the second order Boeing received for supplying 737-800 airplanes. Recently, Luxair Luxembourg Airlines, the national carrier of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ordered an additional 737-800 airplanes. The 737-800 has an average list price of $77 million.

The company’s Commercial Airplanes segment suffered a 12% year-over-year revenue decline during the second quarter of 2010 largely due to lower new airplane sales. Lower 737 and 777 deliveries, primarily issuing from supplier production challenges relating to seats, were responsible for the much diminished new airplane sales.

The segment ended the second quarter with a contractual backlog of $251.6 billion, up 0.4% from the 2009-end level. We, however, expect order wins and scheduled deliveries in the segment to help deliver improved results in the forthcoming quarters.

The Zacks Consensus Earnings Estimate for fourth-quarter 2010 is $1.13 per share. For full years 2010 and 2011, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are, respectively, $3.88 per share and $4.84 per share.

We expect freight and passenger traffic to improve as the economic recovery gains traction, leading to renewed demand in the commercial aerospace market. The company seems well poised to capitalize on the said recovery.

On the flip side, a delay in the delivery of the 787 Dreamliner might lead to negative investor sentiment, affecting the company’s valuation.

We maintain our Neutral recommendation on Boeing. The quantitative Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating) for the company indicates no clear directional pressure on the shares over the near term.

Headquartered in Chicago, The Boeing Company designs and produces commercial airplanes (787, 737, 747, 767, 777), defense systems and civil and defense space systems. It is also the largest contractor for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). It competes with major defense primes like Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT: 78.19 +0.46 +0.59%) and Northrop Grumman Corporation(NOC: 61.29 0.00 0.00%).

Analysts' Targets
RBC Capital Markets	$83
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Barclays Capital	$80
Equalweight
Monday, January 03, 2011
Longbow	$86
Outperform
Thursday, October 21, 2010