loading
loading
Skip Navigation Markets Pre-Markets U.S. Markets Currencies Prediction Markets Cryptocurrency Futures & Commodities Bonds Funds & ETFs Business Economy Finance Health & Science Media Real Estate Energy Climate Transportation Investigations Industrials Retail Wealth Sports Life Small Business Investing Personal Finance Fintech Financial Advisors Options Action ETF Street Buffett Archive Earnings Trader Talk Tech Cybersecurity AI Enterprise Internet Media Mobile Social Media CNBC Disruptor 50 Tech Guide Politics & Policy White House Policy Defense Congress Expanding Opportunity Video Latest Video Full Episodes Livestream Live Audio Live TV Schedule CNBC Podcasts CEO Interviews CNBC Documentaries Digital Originals Watchlist Investing Club Trust Portfolio Analysis Trade Alerts Meeting Videos Homestretch Jim's Columns Education Subscribe PRO Pro News Josh Brown Mike Santoli Calls of the Day My Portfolio Livestream Full Episodes Stock Screener Market Forecast Options Investing Chart Investing Subscribe Livestream Menu Make It select USA INTL Livestream Search quotes, news & videos Livestream Watchlist SIGN IN Create free account Markets Business Investing Tech Politics & Policy Video Watchlist Investing Club PRO Livestream Menu Why Jim Cramer isn't buying more Boeing despite its huge Navy contract win Published Wed, Sep 30 2026 3:47 PM EDT Natasha Abellard Boeing iced out a rival to win big business from the Navy. But there are lingering issues keeping Jim Cramer from shelling out more cash on the position. The Department of Defense announced late Tuesday that Boeing won the contract to produce a sixth-generation fighter jet for the Navy, beating out Northrop Grumman for the deal, valued at more than $20 billion. The new program — known as the F/A-XX Strike Fighter — will eventually replace the Navy's fleet of F/A-18 Super Hornets jets, including the Growler variant. Boeing is the Super Hornet manufacturer. The delivery of the F/A-XX Strike Fighter jets will begin in the 2030s and operate alongside Lockheed Martin 's F-35C, according to the Pentagon. The victory for Boeing is notable, in part, because some analysts believed Northrop Grumman was the favorite to land the job. While Boeing's commercial business is its most important driver, its defense, space and security segment represented nearly a third of the company's $89.5 billion in 2025 revenue; it's projected to contribute roughly the same share of 2026 sales, according to FactSet. Jim is enthusiastic about Boeing's big defense win, so much so that he considered adding to the Club's position for the first time since mid-August . Boeing is "one of the stocks I would've bought this morning," Jim said during Wednesday's Morning Meeting . Instead, we bought Cardinal Health and Bank of New York . There are two main issues keeping Jim on the sidelines Wednesday. The first is election results expected Thursday from Boeing's engineering and technical employee union in a critical contract vote. The second is that it's still early in the fallout from Boeing's newly discovered software glitch , which surfaced over the weekend. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it's waiting to certify Boeing's 737 Max 10 aircraft, while examining whether it poses a safety issue. The software glitch could affect certain automated landing procedures, according to Boeing. "I can't [buy more shares] until we see the information," Jim added, noting that the uncertainty of these outcomes are why Boeing shares were flat Wednesday, despite the positive defense update. BA YTD mountain Boeing's stock performance year to date. Boeing's stock initially opened higher Wednesday — shares adding nearly 3% at their session highs of $192.99 — before reversing into the red. Including Wednesday's roughly 1% decline, shares are down more than 22% from their Aug. 5 close, erasing their year-to-date gains. Since then, rekindled tensions in the Middle East began to drive up oil prices again, weighing on aerospace stocks like Boeing, mirroring action from earlier this year when the Iran war first broke out. The stock has also been hurt by CEO Kelly Ortberg's revelation on Sept. 16 that stabilizing 737 Max production is taking "a little bit longer" than expected. Then came this week's software glitch disclosure — first reported by The Wall Street Journal — and then confirmed by the company. We're also still waiting for a concrete follow-up on Boeing's re-entry into the Chinese market, an uncertainty that was spotlighted by last week's summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping . Put another way, Boeing surely needed a win like the Navy fighter jet contract. Bernstein and Wolfe Research are viewing the victory favorably, especially because Boeing last year won the contract for a new Air Force fighter jet. "Boeing now holds a monopoly position within the US for sixth-gen fighter aircraft, which is a long way away from where the company was just a few years ago when the odds for them to be fully out of fighter jet manufacturing were high," Wolfe Research wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "No one is buying Boeing's stock because of their defense business, but barring a winner's curse (i.e., a money-losing fixed-price contract), the award is another indication of the progress that the company is making in their progressive operational and reputational turnaround across the company," added Wolfe, which has a buy-equivalent rating on the stock. Bernstein said that given cost overruns in certain parts of the defense business, including the Air Force One program , "winning the two major fighter programs sets up a new era" for the defense, space and security segment. Bernstein also recommends clients buy Boeing shares. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said the results of Thursday's labor vote are the next big thing for the stock. "With recent negative developments increasingly reflected in the stock, we believe labor represents the primary near-term risk," analysts told clients. "In our view, if the labor agreement is reached without a strike, Boeing's stock could present a tactical buying opportunity at current levels," analysts added. Morgan Stanley maintained a hold-equivalent rating and $250 price target on Boeing. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long BA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. More In Analysis We're raising our Micron price target after an incredible quarter and robust guidance Jeff Marks 2 hours ago Wall Street is closing out a strong quarter. Plus, Lilly's mixed obesity drug trial data Zev Fima Nvidia is approaching a breakout level. Plus, what we want to see from Micron Alexa LoMonaco Read More
document fetched 2026-10-01 03:03 · canonical https://cnbc.com/2026/09/30/why-jim-cramer-isnt-buying-more-boeing-despite-its-huge-navy-contract-win-.html