TLDR
- Citi raised its Boeing price target to $260 from $256, keeping a Buy rating, calling the defense selloff a buying opportunity
- Boeing’s defense segment posted $7.6 billion in Q1 revenue, up 21% year-over-year, with a record $86 billion backlog
- Boeing beat Q1 earnings expectations, reporting -$0.20 EPS vs. an estimated -$0.68, with revenue up 14% to $22.22 billion
- China confirmed a 200-aircraft order, and a Boeing director bought $299,000 worth of stock in an insider purchase
- Risks remain, including 777X certification delays and concerns about fixed-price development contracts
Boeing (BA) stock opened at $219.18 on Friday, sitting just above its 200-day moving average of $218.62, as Wall Street begins to look more closely at the company’s defense business.
Citi raised its price target on Boeing to $260 from $256 this week, maintaining its Buy rating. The bank called the recent pullback in aerospace and defense stocks a buying opportunity, pointing to Boeing’s defense momentum as a key part of the recovery case.
The Q1 numbers back that up. Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security segment brought in $7.6 billion in revenue, up 21% from a year earlier. Operating earnings in that segment rose to $233 million from $155 million, and the backlog hit a record $86 billion, with 27% tied to international customers.
Total company revenue came in at $22.22 billion for Q1, up 14% year-over-year, beating analyst estimates of $22.15 billion. The EPS loss of -$0.20 was much better than the -$0.68 consensus, which gave bulls something to point to.
Boeing’s overall backlog climbed to a record $695 billion.
That said, the commercial side is still a work in progress. Boeing posted a GAAP loss of 11 cents per share, and 777X certification is running into complications, with reports of “hot brakes” becoming a bigger focus than expected. That news weighed on the stock and renewed concerns about execution.
Defense Momentum Builds the Investment Case
Beyond the quarterly numbers, Boeing locked in a seven-year framework with the U.S. Department of War in April to triple production of PAC-3 seekers used in Patriot missile interceptors. Boeing has put more than $200 million into expanding that production capacity in Huntsville, Alabama, since 2024.
The fiscal 2026 defense budget proposal includes $2.5 billion for missile and munitions production, which keeps the government spending tailwind in place.
In March 2025, Boeing was also awarded the engineering and manufacturing development contract for the F-47, the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance program — described as the world’s first sixth-generation fighter aircraft. That gives the defense unit a long-term anchor program.
China Order and Insider Activity Add to the Mix
China confirmed a 200-aircraft Boeing order as part of broader U.S.-China trade talks, reopening a market that had been frozen. Some investors had hoped for a larger order, which may be limiting near-term upside, but the deal still improves demand visibility.
On the institutional side, Connors Investor Services opened a new position worth roughly $10.46 million in Q4. AXA S.A. boosted its stake by over 1,200%. Institutional investors now hold around 64.82% of the stock.
Director Bradley D. Tilden bought 1,370 Boeing shares at $218.50 each on May 20th, a total of $299,345, in an insider purchase filed with the SEC.
The consensus analyst rating sits at “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $259.80.
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