Out Fox The $treet

Boeing has an order issue that most manufacturing firms would gladly accept. The massive backlog over rides any concerns regarding short-term order issues. The large capital returns suggest the stock remains undervalued. Any manufacturing firm lives off of orders so obsessing over monthly and quarterly numbers has some validity. A problem though occurs when investors don't view the big picture of the magnitude of the backlog. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Delta Air Lines continues to tell anybody that will listen the purchase prices for used 777s.  Along with a downgrade, Boeing is down sharply on the news.  The recommendation is for investors to continue focusing on the order book for narrow-body planes and ignore the noise generated by a customer looking for cheaper planes.  In an interesting news twist, Asia's largest carrier agreed to purchase 110 Boeing (NYSE: BA ) airplanes, yet the market appeared more interested in the cost of one used plane. The news bits continued a spate over the last several months regarding a glut in the airplane market and specifically the wide-body jets. See my original research on the issue here . Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Boesing (BA) announced today its first firm order for the new 737 MAX fuel-efficient, narrowbody plane, from Southwest Airlines (LUV). BA claims this is the largest order ever which apparently passes a few other recent orders that I thought had the same claims. This industry appears ripe with orders, but deliveries remain a different story. LUV ordered 208 narrowbody planes for $19B (list price not actual price). This includes an order for 150 MAX aircraft that won't even start deliveries until 2017 (or '18 or '19 if the historical delay pattern continues). BA is reporting commitments for 948 MAX planes that could climb to 1,500 by the end of next year. This truly has to be the most interesting industry where customers order hundreds of planes at a time for delivery in 5-10 years. Makes me wonder if the industry won't eventually face stiff competition from a Brazil, China, or Russia made model that is able to make planes in a more timely manner. Until then ai...