Boeing's Comeback Hits Turbulence, and the Stock Takes an 11% Nosedive

Tuesday was a good day for the stock market and a terrible one for Boeing. While the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq climbed more than 1%, Boeing shares dropped 10.7% to close at $168.18. That wiped out about $20 a share in a single session and pushed the stock to its lowest level since April 2025. Trading volume was almost seven times normal.

So what went wrong? On paper, the quarter wasn't all bad. Revenue came in at about $24.2 billion, up about 4% from last year, and Boeing posted an operating profit of $354 million, compared with a loss of nearly $4.8 billion a year earlier. But the adjusted loss of 34 cents a share was worse than the roughly 24-25 cents analysts expected. And the commercial airplane business, the part everyone watches, still lost $697 million. It delivered 161 jets, barely more than a year ago.

The real gut punch was about the future. Boeing said it will miss its goal of delivering 500 737 MAX jets this year and that production is ramping up more slowly than it planned. For investors who've been patiently waiting for this turnaround, slower production pushes profits further down the road. Boeing also flagged higher supply chain costs and money set aside for future production rate changes.

It's not all gloom. The FAA approved the 737-10 MAX earlier this month, and Boeing won a major U.S. Navy fighter jet contract in September. Its defense business got a lift too, partly from asset sales.

But markets have heard "next year will be better" from Boeing for a long time now. How much longer will people wait?