Boeing Cash, Sales Rise After Most Jet Deliveries Since 2018

Boeing Co. generated cash for a second straight quarter and reported a 57% bump in sales during the final three months of 2025, as the US planemaker continues its recovery and benefits from surging orders. Free cash flow was $375 million in the fourth quarter, more than analysts expected, while revenue rose to $23.95 billion. Earnings were boosted by a $9.6 billion gain tied to the sale of Boeing’s Jeppesen digital aviation subsidiary last year. Jefferies Equity Research Managing Director Sheila Kahyaoglu joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. She speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.

Boeing Co. aims to deliver 500 of its 737 family jets this year as it ramps up production, and it won’t be able to rely on a stockpile of previously built Max models to bolster its results, executives said.

The US planemaker is poised to deliver the final 737 Max 8 model built before 2023 during this quarter, and it has whittled down its stash of similar vintage 787 Dreamliners to about five jets, Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said during an earnings conference call on Tuesday.

They are the last of hundreds of aircraft that Boeing built, stored during industry turbulence and extensively repaired. Executives described the process as “shadow factory” since the costs and effort were akin to building an all-new model. Unwinding this inventory will give investors a clearer view of how its brick-and-mortar factories are performing.

Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft outside the company’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington.

Boeing plans to largely reach its target for its cash-cow narrowbody jet — a 12% increase from its 2025 delivery total — by hiking the pace of work in its Seattle-area factory and by bringing a fourth final assembly on-line in its Everett, Washington plant.

While Boeing didn’t share either a financial outlook or firm delivery goal for the year, executives said that overall shipments should rise by about 10%. The total includes between 90 and 100 of the widebody 787 Dreamliner jets, another key source of cash.

Those objectives average out to the current production rates for Boeing’s two best-selling jets — a 42-aircraft monthly output for the 737 and eight-jet monthly pace for the Dreamliner, noted George Ferguson, analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. He expects Boeing to exceed the goals as it pushes output higher.

“Kelly is an under-promise, over-deliver guy,” Ferguson said of Boeing Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg. “And this is an under-promise, over-deliver forecast.”

Rival Airbus SE is expected to reveal its own annual target when it reports earnings within a few weeks.

Read More: Airbus Said to Beat 2025 Annual Delivery Goal of 790 Aircraft

The planemakers receive the bulk of payment for their aircraft when they hand them off to customers, and investors closely watch the delivery tally since it provides a rough proxy for the state of their financial health.

Airbus has revised its target in recent years as it battles supply-chain stresses, including shortages of engines.

Boeing has been insulated from some of that turbulence since it had a glut of inventory stemming from missed production targets and crises in 2024, ranging from a near-catastrophe and lengthy strike by hourly factory workers in its west coast factories.

Its supply chain isn’t expected to face a rigorous test until the company starts to raise 737 production to 52-jets a month, Ortberg said Tuesday.

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