Boeing falls nearly 11% as 737 Max delivery warning clouds turnaround

Boeing shares fell nearly 11% to $168.18 on Tuesday after company executives warned Wall Street of a 737 Max delivery shortfall. The close was Boeing’s lowest since April 22, 2025.

The sell-off dragged the aerospace and defense company to its lowest trading level in 18 months during a sharp mid-morning decline that persisted into the afternoon. Boeing was the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the second-worst among S&P 500 companies on Tuesday.

What does the delivery warning mean for Boeing?

Boeing executives said they need more time to stabilize 737 Max deliveries at 47 aircraft a month. That pace will leave the company short of its target of 500 jets for the year, according to the company’s delivery update.

The 737 Max is Boeing’s commercial workhorse. The single-aisle aircraft has been a top-selling commercial plane for decades, making any disruption to its delivery rate material to Boeing’s production recovery and revenue expectations.

Boeing maintained its forecast of 90 to 100 deliveries for the twin-aisle 787 Dreamliner. Executives said the result would probably fall closer to the bottom of that range.

The 787 is Boeing’s flagship aircraft and a coveted long-haul jet for global airlines. A delivery total near 90 would represent the lower end of the company’s outlook and limit the contribution from its wide-body operation.

Boeing did not provide a new overall delivery outlook. That leaves investors without a revised timetable for resolving constraints affecting the 737 Max and weighing their effect on planned deliveries.

How did Boeing perform in the third quarter?

Boeing reported a third-quarter adjusted loss of 34 cents per share. FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 25 cents per share, making the company’s result worse than the consensus forecast.

• Third-quarter adjusted loss: 34 cents per share, against FactSet’s expected 25-cent loss.
• Quarterly revenue: $24.2 billion, versus a forecast of $23.9 billion.
• Defense sales: slightly higher than expected and the main reason revenue exceeded forecasts.
• Commercial aircraft sales: below expectations.

The revenue beat did little to offset the delivery warning. Boeing’s defense business produced the upside, while its core commercial aircraft division missed expectations and raised fresh questions about production execution.

Can Kelly Ortberg’s turnaround fix Boeing’s manufacturing problems?

Boeing has struggled to move beyond manufacturing concerns that followed several incidents. Those episodes brought increased regulatory scrutiny, management shake-ups and a loss of confidence among clients, investors and the flying public.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, an industry veteran who took the reins in 2024, leads the company’s turnaround plan. Investors are watching whether production rates can stabilize as Boeing pursues profitability.

Production levels serve as a practical gauge of the company’s repair effort. Investors have treated each change in the delivery cadence as evidence that Boeing’s manufacturing constraints are either receding or persisting.

Boeing faces no shortage of orders, according to the company. Global airlines have waited years for new jets from Boeing and Europe’s Airbus because demand far exceeds what the two manufacturers can produce.

That backlog supports Boeing’s long-term commercial position. It also leaves the company’s delivery execution, rather than customer demand, as the central obstacle to converting orders into aircraft, cash flow and profit.

Boeing remains a U.S. industrial champion and a critical company for the country’s aerospace and defense sector. The near-term test under Ortberg is whether Boeing can sustain a 47-a-month 737 Max delivery pace and move closer to its 500-jet target without further missing financial expectations.

The next production updates will determine whether Tuesday’s 11% decline reflected a temporary timing setback or another delay in Boeing’s effort to turn stronger demand and a revenue beat into steady deliveries and profitability.