WASHINGTON — The Boeing Co. did not need an extra day of February to know the month was showing it no love. But the leap year’s supplement delivered the cruelest news: the loss of a $35 billion Air Force contract.
Before that stomach punch connected, Boeing had heard this from Washington in February: Three of its military contracts had cost $3 billion more than projected and its work on a virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border had failed to meet expectations.
“February was an unfortunate congruence of the stars,” said Ray Bjorklund, chief knowledge officer at market research firm Federal Sources Inc.
March’s stars have yet to realign. Boeing shares fell nearly 4 percent Monday afternoon.
Boeing, which last year reported an 8 percent jump in revenue to $66.4 billion, can handle the financial hit of losing the tanker deal, but “the bigger loss is to prestige and the hit to ego,” said Scott Hamilton, an aviation industry consultant based in Issaquah.
Stockholders are still smarting from February’s finale. Shares of Boeing fell $2.12, or 2.6 percent, to close Monday at $80.67.
Boeing spokesman Dan Beck countered that the company’s defense business will remain part of its core.
“There is no need for doom and gloom with regards to Boeing’s defense business,” Beck said. “We have a very extensive and very diverse portfolio.”
Shares of Boeing’s rival, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which won the tanker contract with partner Northrop Grumman, surged Monday.
Shares of EADS rose 9.2 percent to close at $28.90 in Paris and shares of Northrop Grumman rose $3.96, or 5 percent, to close at $82.57 Monday.
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