By Al Root

Boeing stock has been buffeted by rising oil prices, certification delays, defense losses, and uncertainty about China's plans for commercial jets. None of that really matters for investors right now. Boeing's job is relatively simple: Build more planes.

On Wednesday, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg spoke at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions investment conference. The conversation was wide-ranging, touching on just about every part of the business.

Ortberg acknowledged challenges in the defense business and said Boeing intends to move away from fixed-price contracts. Boeing's defense business lost about $130 million in 2025, after losing $5.4 billion in 2024. It hasn't reported an operating profit since 2021.

Still, the defense backlog is at record levels, and the company is working to return the business to "high-single-digit" profit margins.

He also addressed China's recent commitment for 200 new jets, a number that disappointed investors, who were looking for something closer to 500. Ortberg called the order an "initial tranche" with more likely to come.

That's good news, but Boeing's commercial plane backlog stretches well into the 2030s. What Boeing needs to do more than anything is make more planes. It delivered 600 jets in 2025, up from 348 in 2024. That isn't enough. Boeing delivered more than 800 in 2018, the year before the second deadly 737 MAX crash. Boeing is expected to surpass its 2018 peak by 2028, with about 860 deliveries.

More planes are the key to earnings and free cash flow, which have eluded the company for years. Boeing has used about $38 billion in cash between 2019 and 2025, after generating about $59 billion in free cash flow over the prior seven years.

That's why Ortberg's comment that the Federal Aviation Administration is allowing Boeing to make 47 737 MAX jets per month matters so much. Boeing had been allowed to make 42 MAX jets a month after getting FAA approval to raise production in late 2025. That was an increase from a previous FAA cap of 38 a month, imposed after an emergency door plug blew out of a 737 MAX 9 jet in flight in January 2024. The defect was traced back to supplier production quality and Boeing's inability to catch it.

In the coming months, Boeing plans to raise production to north of 50 per month and eventually to more than 60 per month.

Higher production, for now, matters even more than oil prices or the certification of new planes. Boeing is working to certify its new 777x jet and the longer version of the 737 MAX, the 737 MAX 10. Deliveries should start in 2027.

Coming into Thursday trading, Boeing stock is down about 1% since fighting started in Iran, amid higher oil prices that can impact demand for air travel. Higher oil prices are a risk, but they also drive demand for new, more fuel-efficient planes. Barring something truly unusual, oil prices in the summer of 2026 should be a blip for Boeing.

All that matters is making more planes. Improving corporate culture will help.

"We did a lot of focus on training our people, rolled out our new values and behaviors, aligned our goals and objectives to a single one-Boeing set of goals and objectives," said Ortberg. "So, everybody is focused on [the] success of the company. And I'm seeing [a] major, major turnaround with that. And it's not just me. I'm hearing it from the employees. I'm hearing it from the customers."

That's good news from Wednesday's talk, too.

Boeing stock was down 0.1% in premarket trading Thursday, while S&P 500 futures were flat. Shares gained 2.5% on Wednesday.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 28, 2026 10:43 ET (14:43 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.