Good news for Dave Calhoun, who will be departing the CEO seat at aircraft maker Boeing (NYSE:BA). He won’t be leaving the company altogether, as he’s been re-elected back onto the board of directors. Shareholders took the news reasonably well and gave shares the most fractional of boosts in Friday afternoon’s trading.
However, the vote was far from universal; reports note that Glass Lewis, a proxy advisor, encouraged shareholders to vote against the deal. They noted that the disasters for Boeing were largely on Calhoun’s watch and that the recent efforts to improve Boeing’s safety culture haven’t exactly been winners. Calhoun still plans to retire by the end of the year from the CEO slot, and a search to replace him is already active, with two candidates already coming out ahead of the pack.
Meanwhile, investors are looking for more rapid action on this front, noting that the company really needs a new leader in place quickly. The current leadership can’t make the kind of sweeping changes required.
Speaking of Safety Culture
Meanwhile, Boeing revealed once again why these changes are necessary, as a 747-400 set to take off from Indonesia en route to Saudi Arabia had its right-wing catch on fire. Multiple angles’ worth of video revealed that the wing actually ignited briefly as the plane took off. The plane quickly landed, as the pilot abandoned the flight plan and returned to the airport to engage in a set of “safety investigations.”
Is Boeing Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 17 Buys, seven Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 11.68% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $223.42 per share implies 22.08% upside potential.
