Boeing’s Paperwork Needed for 787 Deliveries Was Incomplete, Report Says

Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard likened the incomplete submission to “submitting your homework [one] minute before the deadline,” adding it is too early to tell whether the snafu will lead to additional delays in the deliveries of the jet.

That is the risk for shareholders. Boeing hasn’t been delivering 787 jets for months after quality problems were discovered in the manufacturing process.

The plane is still flying safely around the globe. This delay is about new deliveries to customers. Boeing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday morning.

Wall Street expects 787 deliveries to resume in this quarter, although the number of jets forecast to be delivered is relatively low at 11. The company delivered 48 787 jets back in the second quarter of 2019, before the quality problems arose and before the pandemic slammed air travel and demand for planes.

Boeing stock isn’t doing much in response to the report. Shares were down about 0.3% in premarket trading, in line with the market. Futures on the

S&P 500
and

Dow Jones Industrial Average
were off about 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Boeing stock already reflects a lot of bad news. Shares are down about 37% so far this year and about 51% below their June 52-week high of more than $258 a share.

Airbus

(AIR.France) shares are down about 13% from their 52-week high.

Regulatory scrutiny of the company remains high following the grounding of the 737 MAX jet between March 2019 and November 2020 in response to two deadly crashes within five months.

Restarting 787 deliveries could help convince investors the worst is behind the company.

Boeing investors might get another bit of good news this week if the company’s space capsule, called Starliner, can complete an uncrewed test flight on May 19. The test was scrubbed in 2021 after a valve problem was discovered.

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