Boeing shares are struggling to take off.
The stock fell Wednesday after the Federal Aviation Administration declared Boeing’s 737 Max planes once again safe to fly, a key development in a two-year saga that stemmed from two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Shares of the Dow component initially rose 5% on Wednesday but reversed course to close more than 3% lower as a broader market sell-off dragged on the major averages.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said this likely wasn’t a “sell the news” phenomenon.
“It’s just a normal and healthy reaction after a huge rally,” he told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday.
Up almost 41% just this month and 114% from the March bottom, Boeing’s stock simply “needs to work off that overbought condition,” Maley said, citing a chart.
He expected the stock to pare its gains for a week or so and make a higher low as it digests the positive news. Boeing closed at $203.30 a share on Wednesday.
“Then if it can break out and break above its June highs, which is right in the 230 to 230.50 level, … in any kind of meaningful way, it’s going to be really bullish for the stock,” Maley said. “Short term, it needs a little bit of a breather. That’s OK — again, normal and healthy. Long term, the stock looks great.”
Industrials as a whole are likely breathing a sigh of relief over the Boeing clearance, said John Petrides, a portfolio manager in the wealth division of Tocqueville Asset Management.
“Boeing went, in the past 24 months, from a cash-flow darling to a Covid disaster where they almost had to get bailed out by the government,” Petrides said in the same “Trading Nation” interview.
“Clearly, this is all positive headline news, but I think there’s broader implications for the entire industrial sector,” including the companies along Boeing’s massive supply chain, he said.
It seems several key catalysts for the industrials are joining forces, Petrides said.
“We know there’s been a sector rotation out of growth and into value. Cyclicals have benefited and industrials in particular,” he said. “If we get a Biden infrastructure package plus some Covid relief and an economic recovery and this help from Boeing now that the 737 is back in play, then I think there’s a broader picture here that the industrial sector in general looks very attractive.”
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) closed less than half of 1% lower on Wednesday after hitting a new all-time high.
Disclosure: Some Tocqueville clients own shares of Boeing.
