By Allison Lampert and Nathan Gomes
Dec 2 (Reuters) – Boeing expects positive cash flow in 2026, lifted by higher deliveries of its commercial jets, the company’s finance chief said on Tuesday, sending the U.S. planemaker’s shares up 10%.
Boeing has been trying to improve its image and win a race for narrow-body plane orders with Airbus under CEO Kelly Ortberg, after a more than five-year corporate crisis disrupted production and deepened its debt.
Boeing CFO Jay Malave told a UBS conference he expects the company to generate positive 2026 cash flow, a metric closely watched by investors, after an expected negative $2 billion cash outflow this year. It would be the first time the company has generated positive cash flow since 2023, according to LSEG data.
“What we expect anyway is in the low single digits in terms of positive free cash flow, which I think is pretty substantial growth year over year,” Malave said.
Malave did not disclose a specific dollar figure for free cash flow next year.
“Big picture, we expect deliveries both on the 737 and the 787 to grow,” Malave said.
STRONGER PRODUCTION FUELS CONFIDENCE
Stronger 737 and 787 jet production after struggles in both programs, combined with improvements in Boeing’s defense and space unit, are fueling greater investor confidence in Ortberg’s efforts to turn the company around after setbacks.
Boeing’s rally made it the day’s best performer on the S&P 500 on Tuesday.
“It does seem that investors are giving those more credence today than even a month ago,” Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said.
This includes increasing the rate of Boeing’s strong-selling 737 jet, after output plummeted due to a quality crisis and union strike in 2024, combined with work on a new 787 plant in South Carolina, and progress on getting its long-delayed 777X widebody jet certified.
“That is a light at the end of the tunnel that hasn’t been in view for Boeing for three years,” Owens said of the different programs.
Malave said he expects Boeing’s 737-10 narrow-body jet to be certified later this year, adding he was confident the planemaker would deliver on a general $10 billion free cash flow target.
The company has, however, historically lagged well behind Airbus, in part due to the success of the European planemaker’s A321neo jets and as a series of safety and industrial mishaps from its 737 series hit its reputation.
Airbus has separately discovered an industrial quality issue affecting fuselage panels of several dozen A320-family aircraft, industry sources said on Monday, after a weekend recall of jets over a software bug.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Leroy Leo and Rod Nickel)
