A record $695B backlog, the FAA's blessing returned — so why is Boeing stock still sinking?
Boeing reports second-quarter 2026 results on Tuesday, July 28, and the setup heading into that call is genuinely strange. The company delivered 314 commercial jets in the first half of the year, its best six-month stretch since 2018, and its total backlog climbed to a record $695 billion covering more than 6,100 airplanes. Eight days before the earnings release, the Federal Aviation Administration handed Boeing back full authority to issue airworthiness certificates for every 737 MAX and 787 it builds, reversing a restriction imposed in 2019 after the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes and extended to the 787 in 2022. Yet the stock closed at $205.90 on July 22, below its 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages, while first-quarter free cash flow ran to negative $1.45 billion. The gap between the good news and the price action traces back to a cash cushion that shrank 29% in a single quarter, a $1 billion annual drag from the Spirit AeroSystems integration, and the uncomfortable fact that peak delivery pressure and reduced final-stage regulatory scrutiny have arrived in the same month.