Boeing Risks $5 Billion in Revenue on 787 Probe’s Outcome
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As government regulators investigate Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner and company engineers search for solutions, investors and analysts are grappling with the bottom-line question: How much will the plane’s grounding cost?
The answer depends on what probes in the U.S. and Japan uncover, with scenarios ranging from a quick resolution if a few defective parts have to be swapped out to a drawn-out inquiry that requires a fundamental redesign. The worst case scenario: The Dreamliner’s problems run so deep that Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney has to write off about $5 billion in anticipated revenue, said Howard Rubel, a Jefferies & Co. analyst who puts the odds of that at about 4 percent.