Industry trendsetter Robert Crandall, who will step down as chief of American Airlines on May 20 (see p. 37), will be going out on a high note--a 2-1 stock split last week and first-quarter earnings that far exceeded anything Wall Street had projected.
In 1994, when a veteran Wall Street aerospace analyst forecast that Orbital Sciences Corp.'s stock price would climb to $50 a share within 3-4 years, some industry observers scoffed that his prediction was wildly optimistic.
Northwest Airlines and United Airlines, the U.S. carriers with the highest stakes in the troubled Pacific Rim, have adjusted to weaknesses brought by the Asian financial flu.
Current operating conditions for airlines are so favorable--healthy bookings, firm pricing, low interest rates, falling fuel prices--one might almost forget that commercial air transport remains a cyclical industry.
On first blush, it might seem that Northrop Grumman Corp. has the most to lose in the unlikely event that the company's proposed merger with Lockheed Martin falls apart (see p. 24).
A combination of powerful market forces for which little or no letup is in sight suggests there may be substantial upside in the stocks of selected, lower-tier aerospace suppliers--although pricing and productivity will continue as potential problem areas.
Some Wall Street analysts expect a growing number of aerospace/defense companies to implement a more rigorous coupling of executive compensation to stock-price performance.
Observers of the U.S. airline industry--not to mention investors--surely must wonder what it will take for Trans World Airlines Inc. to start earning a net profit.
Until last week, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) was considered one of the companies that would survive the consolidation that is gaining momentum in the federal services and information technology market.
Consolidation pressures, depressed Asian demand and uncertainties about how global alliances will be regulated are likely to be troublesome for Europe's major airlines this year, preventing most of them from matching their record 1997 financial performances, according to some British and German market analysts.
When Northwest and Continental airlines announced their proposed alliance last week (see p. 32), some industry observers quickly assumed the partnership--if approved--will trigger further U.S. carrier consolidation.
Despite Boeing's dominant position in the commercial aircraft market and its leading position in defense and space, a host of uncertainties surrounding the company's near-term business prospects prompted Standard&Poor's to revise its outlook for the troubled aerospace giant to ``negative'' last week.
As one of the most active consolidators in the aviation parts and inventory-management sector, AAR Corp. continues to acquire niche businesses that broaden the company's reach.
Looking ahead to the collective stock-price performance of the U.S. aerospac e/defense industry's market leaders in 1998, it would be nice to think the group has nowhere to go but up. But, of course, that remains to be seen.
Wall Street keeps raising the financial-performance hurdle for U.S. airlines, as strong passenger growth and falling fuel prices bolster expectations for higher profits.
Vivid Technologies Inc., which provides automated explosives-detection equipment for airline luggage, is setting up a joint venture company in partnership with an Indian concern.
Wall Street has high expectations for Howmet International, which began trading under the symbol HWM on the New York Stock Exchange last Wednesday, opening at 151/4.
One by one, US Airways Group Inc. is implementing the initiatives that management pledged they would pursue in the wake of securing a new five-year pact with pilots aimed at lowering costs.
Like their U.S. counterparts, most major European airlines are likely to post record or near-record profits for the year, with Lufthansa German Airlines' financial performance among the European industry's strongest.
Shareholders of both Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Electric Co. will be well-served by an accord between the two industry giants in which GE will swap $2.8 billion of its preferred stock in Lockheed Martin for cash and various operations Lockheed Martin had been seeking to divest.
Atlas Air Inc. is girding for the strong possibility that new 747-400s it has on order could be delayed 30-60 days because of the Boeing Co.'s production problems.
Wall Street is giving Boeing Co. the benefit of the doubt and buying into the notion that the company's production problems, although severe, are only temporary.
