Dow Today: Boeing (BA) Leads The Day Higher, E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Company (DD) Lags

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 21 points (+0.2%) at 13,123 as of Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 32.8 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 564 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,611 issues advancing vs. 1,023 declining with 158 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Boeing (NYSE:BA), which is sporting a $1.07 gain (+1.5%) bringing the stock to $73.89. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 8.1 points or roughly accounting for 38.6% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Boeing currently sits at 750,861 shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 4.3 million shares.

Boeing has a market cap of $55.41 billion and is part of the industrial goods sector and aerospace/defense industry. Shares are down 0.7% year to date as of Tuesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.4%.

The Boeing Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, sale, and support of commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 12.8, equal to the average aerospace/defense industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Boeing as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, notable return on equity, increase in stock price during the past year, increase in net income and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Boeing Ratings Report.

Holding back the Dow today is E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (NYSE:DD), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a 38-cent decline (-0.8%) bringing the stock to $44.87. Volume for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company currently sits at 723,823 shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 4.6 million shares.

• See our dividend calendar or top-yielding stocks list.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company has a market cap of $46.3 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and chemicals industry. Shares are up 8.7% year to date as of Tuesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3.5%.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company operates as a science and technology based company worldwide. Its Agriculture segment provides hybrid corn and soybean seeds, and grains under the Pioneer brand name; and herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.4, equal to the average chemicals industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.

• You can view the full E.I. du Pont de Nemours Ratings Report.

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