Cocky or confident: How worried should Boeing be about its backlog?

On Wednesday, Boeing Co. executives said they were confident about the aerospace giant’s future, despite the impact high fuel costs was having on its U.S.-based commercial jet customers.


Boeing’s chief executive Jim McNerney said the company had seen few deferrals and had no cancellations. And Boeing reaffirmed its financial outlook, despite weaker results in the second quarter compared to the previous year.


McNerney’s comments come a week after Boeing’s Scott Carson told analysts and media at the Farnborough Air Show that he doesn’t anticipate the level of cancellations – up to 30 percent of orders – discussed by Boeing’s rival Airbus.


Wall Street, in general, hasn’t been as rosy in take on the commercial jet market as has Boeing, according to this Bloomberg piece.


Macquarie Research Equities analyst Rob Stallard thought Boeing’s Carson was overstating Boeing’s backlog. “Boeing seems completely cocky about how their situation is,” Stallard said.

In this Bloomberg clip, Wolfgang Demisch, a partner at Demisch Associates, talks about concerns over Boeing’s commercial jet order backlog.

At the end of June, Boeing had a backlog of 3,661 unfilled orders worth $275 billion.