Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.
Stocks haven’t lost any momentum since last week’s rise, and the markets are back on the upswing today in a big way. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been on a high all day long, and as of 2:45 p.m. EDT, the blue-chip index has gained more than 110 points to hover near the 15,500 mark. Nearly every stock on the Dow is in the green on the day, but no stock’s having a stronger showing than The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) after company shareholders received some big news from overseas. Let’s catch up on what you need to know.
Boeing’s big win
The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) stock is up almost 4% today following a report from Reuters that sources say the company’s F-15 Stealth Eagle fighter was the only bid in South Korea’s $7.6 billion aircraft competition to come in under budget eligibility requirements. Boeing’s two competitors in the chase, Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) and Eurofighter, saw their F-35 and Typhoon fighters, respectively, come in over budget and thus miss the eligibility mark.
It’s a big deal for The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), huge price tag aside. The company’s win over the more technologically heralded F-35, which has dominated headlines in the U.S. thanks to its skyrocketing cost, shows that Boeing’s cost-effective designs are appealing to cash-strapped governments looking to meet military requirements without spending top dollar. As other governments attached to Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)’s F-35 project have begun to question the fifth-generation aircraft’s soaring cost, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Boeing look to push its own military aircraft designs worldwide in response to the spread of austerity.
That would be a big boost for the company’s military aircraft division, which has lost the spotlight to its surging civilian aircraft segment. The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)’s defense, space and security wing’s sales declined slightly year over year through 2013’s first half, while its commercial airplanes group grew revenue by more than 6% in that time frame. With more budget cuts expected in the Pentagon’s future under sequestration, a more global approach to defense sales could help The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) avoid the worst of the Department of Defense’s fiscal austerity.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)‘s another aerospace-related stock having a great day today, with shares up 1.8% so far. Aerospace might not be the first thing to come to investors’ minds when they think of GE, but that industry has become more and more important to the company in recent times.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s largest segment by revenue, its power and water group, saw sales decline by more than 25% year over year in 2013’s first half — a painful blow that has slammed the company’s performance this year and pulled its stock into the bottom third of the Dow’s year-to-date performers. However, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s aviation unit has soared, with sales jumping more than 6% in the first six months of the year for the firm’s second-largest group by sales, which now ranks just behind the power and water segment for the company’s top-selling branch.
If the aviation market continues to soar, look for General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) to direct more resources to this growing branch in quarters and years to come.
The article Boeing Soars as the Dow Keeps Up Its Run originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Carroll.
Fool contributor Dan Carroll has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company and Lockheed Martin.
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