Making the rounds
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, February 9, 2006
Boeing CEO Jim McNerney and other top execs have been briefing Wall Street equity analysts during the past week, leading to stories like this one in Forbes http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2006/02/10/boeing-northrop-grumman-0210markets11.html, which is based on BofA Securities analyst Nick Fothergill’s most-recent report.
Key Quote: “Although the analyst described management as ‘upbeat’ and ‘informative,’ he maintained his ‘neutral’ rating on Boeing … ‘We believe that orders will slow during 2006 to nearly half that achieved in 2005,’ Fothergill wrote in a recent investor note. ‘We also have concerns regarding raw material price increases, which started to impact commercial margins in the fourth quarter of 2005.’”
Earlier in the week, McNerney told an investor conference http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=19430 that European and North American airlines may finally be ready to start ordering jets, which would help keep sales strong after last year’s record.
Key Quote: “‘There’s a good chance that (the) backlog will grow again,’ McNerney said … Among European carriers, British Airways and Lufthansa both could start looking at potential orders this year, while in the United States, United Airlines may consider new planes now that it has emerged from bankruptcy protection, he said.”
Meanwhile, here in Everett, America, McNerney got high marks for style from a local judge — Michael Parks, editor and publisher of Marple’s Pacific Northwest Letter.
“He hasn’t been on CNBC. He hasn’t been in the Wall Street Journal. He has his head down, taking care of business,” Parks said.
Airbus, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well in his estimation. Team Toulouse “pulled a rabit out of its hat” to top Boeing in orders in 2005, he said. “Some of those ‘orders’ — I have to tell you, put quotes around them.”
Parks is a well-regarded armchair economist in these parts, and he spoke at an annual economic update breakfast sponsored by one of the local banks. In case you missed it, here’s the story I filed on it: http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/10/100bus_parks001.cfm
Key Quote: “Aerospace employment will not return to its 1998 peak, Parks said, though Boeing and its suppliers are expected to continue to add about 500 workers a month for the next four or five years … ‘It’s bullish for Snohomish County, that’s for sure.’”
