Jon Markman
Editor's Note: Jon D. Markman writes a weekly column for CNBC on MSN Money that is republished here on TheStreet.com.
It seems like not a week goes by without word that some airline, country or 11-year-old girl has put in an order for a dozen Boeing jets. These contract announcements must give a lot of comfort to recent buyers of Boeing(BA Quote - Cramer on BA - Stock Picks) shares because they bid the stock up to the upper atmosphere in the past three and a half years, tripling during a time when the market is up far less. Optimistic investors appear to believe that these announcements signify ongoing strength at the world's largest commercial airplane maker that will continue indefinitely. But what they are missing is that sales momentum has tapered off a lot lately. And it is likely to decline a lot more over the next two years, to the extent that the company's earnings may be headed for a hard landing. A couple of months ago, I wrote about the problems that Boeing faces on its 787 Dreamliner program, but after news surfaced last week of technical fiascos and long production delays in its program to build 12 global positioning system (GPS) satellites for the Air Force, I wanted to remind you that Boeing is just not the smooth-sailing enterprise that bulls have conjured up in their dreams. Indeed, I received email from its production workers, former quality-assurance officers and suppliers that the upbeat sales and engineering culture at Boeing have kept management in denial about costly setbacks. Although one can never determine the veracity of letter writers, they had views that I think should be shared.
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