Publicly traded shares of aerospace and defense companies around most of the Western world ended 2019 about 34% above where they began a year ago, and 6% better off than major stock market indices, Wall Street analysts said in year-end reports.
Early in 2019, Airbus’ salespeople had to accept a harsh reality—that the market for new A380s was too slow for production to be sustained beyond 2021.
Spirit AeroSystems, the leading supplier of 737 aerostructures to Boeing, announced Dec. 20 that it will stop producing new 737 aerostructures and halt deliveries to its OEM customer on Jan. 1, 2020.
Days after Boeing announced a coming halt to production of its 737 MAX, the first forecasts to emerge from financial analysts covering aerospace and defense (A&D) still see good business prospects for the sector in 2020 but with several caveats, and with far cloudier horizons.
Days after Boeing announced a production halt of the 737 MAX, the three major U.S. credit rating agencies have turned slightly negative on the manufacturer with new outlooks that stress growing demands on the company’s credit access and softening cash prospects.