Boeing’s (BA) latest issues continue to dominate the Wall Street discourse this week. The latest to weigh in is Bernstein’s equity analysts, who reiterated an Outperform rating and a $272 per share price target.
Their latest comments come after recent media reports showed that the issue with Air Alaska’s Flight 1282 was not an isolated manufacturing problem.
Inspections conducted on Monday revealed loose bolts on the door plugs of multiple airplanes at Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, indicating a pattern of poor workmanship and quality escapes.
This pattern is likely to have originated at Spirit (SPR), where the fuselage is assembled.
While Boeing (NYSE:BA) may not be directly responsible, it should have exercised better inspections or oversight at Spirit,” the analysts said.
Boeing CEO Calhoun stressed the importance of enhanced quality control, stating that MAX-9s will only fly after approval from him and the lead team.
“Despite the headlines, we do not see this as a “737MAX problem” or design issue,” the analysts said.
For them, the most important concern is “how do we know there are not even more problems like this?”
“That will be a difficult question to answer,” they added.
As a result, the analysts expect a “few customers” will want to switch away from the MAX as “commonality” for fleets and subfleets at large carriers is “just too important.”
Boeing stock lost a further 1.4% on Tuesday.