Well done, Boeing (BA 4.20%)! Last quarter's top line of just under $24 billion not only topped analysts' expectations of $22.6 billion but also improved the year-earlier figure by 57%. The company also swung back to a profit, offering a glimmer of hope to the beleaguered aircraft maker's investors.
There's a fairly important footnote to add to these numbers, though. That is, the comparison was to a rather lousy fourth quarter of 2024, when revenue fell 31% year over year. Indeed, it did $24 billion less business than it did in the final quarter of 2018, shortly before a couple of fatal crashes of new Boeing-made aircraft hinted at potential design flaws.
Nevertheless, this commercial aircraft manufacturer's future has never been brighter in a far more important regard. That's its backlog of orders that have yet to be delivered. As of the end of last year, Boeing is sitting on a record-breaking $682.2 billion worth of airplane orders. And the backlog's growth appears to be accelerating.
Data source: The Boeing Company. Chart by author.
Orders can be canceled, of course. But that's not particularly common and is likely to become even less so. In its most recent projection for the air travel business (released last year), Boeing indicated the industry will need 43,600 new passenger jets between 2025 and 2044. For perspective, the International Air Travel Association reports there are 30,300 such planes in active use right now, plus another 5,250 held in storage as backups. Already at an average age of around 15 years, though, these will mostly be retired between now and 2044.
NYSE: BA
Key Data Points
This is obviously good news for Boeing, and by extension for its shareholders. It's only a long-term tailwind, though. It won't necessarily prevent BA stock from suffering sizable (even if temporary) setbacks.
Still, this backlog's persistent growth supports the argument that any such dip is now a long-term buying opportunity.
