Boeing reports rising deliveries. Is the turnaround finally turning?

Turnarounds are tough. As the old business maxim goes, “Turnarounds don’t turn.” That’s Boeing $BA’s seemingly perpetual position, though not for lack of trying. The structural nature of its business — cyclical, capital intensive, and exposed to both regulatory scrutiny and supply chain fragility — is hard enough. Add the aftershocks of safety crises and a strained balance sheet, and you get a cycle of “maybe next year” optimism.

This quarter, Boeing notched a small break. Its Q2 results showed the company delivered 150 commercial aircraft — up a whopping 63% from a year earlier — helping revenue surge 35% year-over-year to $22.7 billion.

Losses down, deliveries up

Losses narrowed sharply, too, with the company reporting a GAAP loss per share of $0.92, compared to $2.33 a year ago. Free cash flow was still negative at $200 million, but that’s a vast improvement from last year’s $4.3 billion outflow in the same quarter.

Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes unit, long the company’s trouble spot, nearly doubled revenue to $10.9 billion as 737 output hit 38 per month and 787 output reached seven. Margins remain negative at -5.1%, but that’s a marked improvement from last year’s -11.9%.

Boeing’s other businesses also steadied: Defense, Space & Security swung back to profitability with a 1.7% margin, while Global Services posted nearly 20% margins on $5.3 billion in sales, making it the company’s most consistently profitable unit.

The company’s backlog swelled to an eye-popping $619 billion, including more than 5,900 commercial aircraft orders, strengthening its long-term outlook. But the heavy debt load remains — $53.3 billion — and a $445 million charge from a U.S. Department of Justice settlement, which weighed on this past quarter's profits, highlight such ongoing financial pressures.

Investors' hopes achieve liftoff

CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing is seeing “improved results” as it focuses on safety, quality, and stabilizing production, with the company flagging President Donald Trump's tariffs as another possible shadow. For now, the challenge is turning a book full of orders into sustained profits and reliable free cash flow — something that, for Boeing, has proven a lot harder than getting planes off the ground.

Still, the stock is showing signs of liftoff. Shares rose 1% heading into Tuesday’s open.