Boeing upgraded to buy at Bank of America as Trump favors planemaker for trade talks

The Trump administration has been including orders for Boeing Co. planes in trade discussions, and that’s helping to restore Bank of America Corp.’s confidence in the stock.

“Boeing aircraft have emerged as a favored trade mechanism in recent US trade negotiations, which we suspect will continue,” Ronald Epstein wrote in a research note. The analyst said deals – including a record order from Qatar Airways – as well as the end of China’s ban on airlines taking delivery of Boeing planes are creating a buying opportunity in shares.

Epstein raised the stock to a buy from neutral while boosting the 12-month price target to $260, the highest on Wall Street and about 25% higher than where the stock currently trades, from a target of $185.

Shares of the planemaker rose 2% in Monday trading. The stock’s gained more than 50% from an April low, though has yet to fully recover from a slump that followed a near-catastrophic accident in early 2024. The incident, involving its troubled 737 Max, eroded conviction in the company’s safety record.

Under the leadership of new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg, Boeing is making progress toward breaking out of a “doom loop,” Epstein said. The production process for 737 aircraft is improving, and the analyst expects more deals, in the vein of April’s $10.6 billion assets sale, to ease the strain on Boeing’s balance sheet.

Boeing, as one of the two largest commercial airplane makers in the world, is not a stranger to being caught in the crossfires of trade negotiations.

During Trump’s first term as president, shares of the company were roiled as investors used it as a proxy to bet on the back-and-forth between U.S. and China. They’ve seen swings once again during the president’s new trade war.

The Qatar Airways deal took center stage during Trump’s recent visit to the Gulf nation, with the president congratulating Boeing for its largest-ever aircraft order. Trump also criticized China after it took aim at the company’s jets.

“Boeing should default China for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase,” he said on social media in late April. “This is just a small example of what China has done to the USA, for years.”