Boeing Stock Is on a Roll. Why It Could Gain 25% in the Next Year.

Boeing is expected to deliver almost 700 jets in 2026. (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• Boeing’s stock has increased by 23% this year, with Tigress analysts projecting a further 25% gain to a $275 target price.
• The company has a backlog of approximately 5,900 aircraft orders valued at over $600 billion.
• Boeing is expected to deliver almost 700 jets in 2026, an increase from about 560-570 in 2025.

Boeing is on the road to recovery. The aerospace-and-defense company has had a strong year and things could get even better over the next 12 months, according to analysts at Tigress Financial Partners.

Boeing stock is up 23% so far this year through Monday’s close, as investors gain confidence in its trajectory under CEO Kelly Ortberg, a former mechanical engineer appointed in July 2024 to help turn around a company long criticized for putting financial engineering above aviation expertise.

Still, at around $220, the shares are well short of where they sat two years ago at about $260. Tigress analyst Ivan Feinseth is betting Boeing is finally ready to regain those heights, initiating a 12-month target price of $275 on the stock, implying a gain of around 25% from current levels.

“Boeing’s long-term growth and shareholder value creation are supported by powerful structural drivers: a massive multi-decade commercial jet cycle, growing defense and space exposure, and a high‑margin services and sustainability roadmap,” Feinseth wrote in a research note on Monday.

Many of the positive points were covered in Barron’s recent decision to name Boeing a stock pick —the most important being a backlog of around 5,900 aircraft orders worth more than $600 billion, reflecting sustained global demand for commercial jets.

In addition, Feinseth sees Boeing benefiting from many of the same ‘megatrends’ recently identified in the aerospace-and-defense industry by analysts at Citi, including rising demand for air travel, international rearmament, advances in AI-enabled drone and missile technology, and the rise of a space economy.

Boeing’s problems have centered around production rather than getting orders. But Feinseth sees reason for optimism in the company’s recent mergers-and-acquisitions activity. Boeing earlier this month said it had finally acquired its fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems, a move triggered by the January 2024 emergency door plug blowout of an Alaska Air 737 MAX while it was in flight. Meanwhile, it said earlier this year it would sell portions of its digital aviation solutions business to software-focused investment firm Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion,

“Boeing is retaining core, fleet‑centric digital capabilities around maintenance, diagnostics, and repair, but exiting most customer‑facing flight‑operations and navigation platforms, reflecting a pivot away from broad aviation software ownership and toward core aircraft, defense, and targeted services and data offerings,” Feinseth wrote.

Boeing is expected to deliver nearly 700 jets in 2026, up from about 560-570 in 2025. Its main rival Airbus is expected to deliver about 900, up from about 790 in 2025.

“As [Boeing] deliveries recover, management and external forecasts point to a transition from current cash burn to positive free cash flow in 2026 and potentially low‑double‑digit billions longer term,” Feinseth wrote.

Boeing hasn’t made money in roughly seven years, meaning it is difficult to value. Feinseth gets his $275 price target by applying a 20-times multiple to his forecast for Boeing’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and restructuring costs over the next 12 months, which he puts at $10.44 billion.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com