Boeing shares take off as CFO touts more 737s, 787s and a return to cash generation

With input from Investor’s Business Daily, CNBC, Reuters.

Boeing got a lift on Tuesday after its finance chief painted a sunnier picture of the jetmaker’s outlook.

Speaking at a UBS conference, CFO Jay Malave said Boeing expects deliveries of both its 737 and 787 jets to increase next year, a key sign the company sees demand — and production — continuing to recover.

Investors liked what they heard. Boeing stock jumped about 8% in midday trading following Malave’s comments.

Higher deliveries won’t just get more planes to customers; they’re also central to Boeing’s plan to repair its finances. Malave said he expects positive free cash flow in the “low single digits” billions next year, a big deal for a company that hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2018.

Those gains, he added, should improve cash margins through the rest of the decade as productivity rises.

The upbeat tone comes after a bruising stretch for Boeing. The company has been under intense scrutiny since the blowout of a door plug on a 737 Max flight in January 2024, an incident that sparked fresh safety questions and tighter oversight.

Since then, Boeing has slowly been climbing back. A pickup in jet deliveries — helped by the lifting of some FAA restrictions on 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner sign-offs — pushed the company back into cash-positive territory in October and set it up for its strongest annual delivery performance since 2018.

Malave’s message on Tuesday was straightforward: the recovery is still on, and Boeing plans to ship more planes and generate more cash next year. For now, Wall Street seems willing to believe him.