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Analyst Raises Boeing, Spirit, EADS Price Targets

The Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Boeing Co., Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. and the parent of Airbus are becoming more attractive investments and are in a strong position to quickly exit the aerospace downturn, an analyst said Tuesday as he increased his price targets for the three manufacturers.

Douglas S. Harned of Bernstein Research raised his price targets to $56 from $42 for Boeing, to $18 from $16 for Wichita, Kan.-based Spirit and to $15 from $12 for EADS, which is based in Paris. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, or EADS, is the parent of Airbus, a key Boeing rival.

U.S.-based Boeing said on Friday that its long-delayed 787 aircraft will be ready for its first test flight by the end of this year, with initial delivery scheduled for late 2010. Harned said announcement of the schedule "allowed investors to look beyond near-term issues and toward the cyclical recovery."

"It took some worst-case scenarios off the table for many investors," Harned said.

Boeing originally scheduled the 787's first test flight for the fall of 2007. But production problems have forced the company to repeatedly postpone trial flights of the passenger jet.

Rising demand could help establish a recovery more quickly than in previous downturns, which should be shorter and shallower than in past cycles, he said. For example, unlike previous periods when airlines placed orders after one year of profitability, orders now are already in place, Harned said.

And the market is grappling with less excess capacity. Backlogs are now double what they were at similar points in earlier cycles, he said.

Customers also have told Harned that Boeing and Airbus are making it costlier for airlines to defer or cancel deliveries than in the past. Near-term airplane delivery should rise because airlines are parking less fuel-efficient airplanes or returning aircraft to companies when leases expire, he said.

Spirit AeroSystems makes components for both Boeing and Airbus.

Shares of Boeing fell $1.02 to $48.65 in afternoon trading. Spirit AeroSystems fell 11 cents, to $15.42.