Companies · BA · Aerospace/Defense
What does Boeing's price assume?
The margin the price assumes
Revenue grows as its record suggests; the operating margin is solved at today's price.
At $174.54 on November 11, 2026, with revenue shrinking 0.7% a year, the price assumes an operating margin of 19.6% by year 5.
The price assumes
19.6%
Operating margin by year 5, solved at the price
Its 9-year median
−3.4%
Fiscal 2017–2025, adjusted for R&D and leases
Its industry
8.8%
Aerospace/Defense, Damodaran Online, January 2026
The price assumes a margin above the company's own median and above its industry's.
The numbers behind the chart
| Fiscal year | Adjusted operating margin |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 10.2% |
| 2018 | 11.2% |
| 2019 | −3.4% |
| 2020 | −23.7% |
| 2021 | −6.4% |
| 2022 | −5.8% |
| 2023 | −0.7% |
| 2024 | −15.1% |
| 2025 | 5.2% |
- Revenue growth, years 1 to 5
- −0.7% a yearFrom its own revenue growth, the lower of its 5- and 10-year rates (here the 10-year).SEC filings, revenue to fiscal 2025
- Margin path
- From today's margin to 19.6% by year 5Solved at the price. After that, the margin holds.
The growth the price assumes
At its median margin, no revenue growth between −50% and 100% a year matches today's price.
The assumptions both views share
These are neutral settings, the same for every company. Each view holds them and solves for one driver at today's price.
- Reinvestment
- $2.74 of revenue for each $1 investedThe industry's sales-to-capital ratio: how much new capital growth needs.Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Aerospace/Defense
- Cost of capital
- 9.85%The return investors need for the risk: the industry's beta, the market's risk premium, and debt rated D2/D from its median margin, with a stated 5-year debt maturity. Built by the engine from the parts listed under Sources, each with its date.
- After year 10
- Growth at the riskfree rate, foreverNew investment earns its cost of capital and no more, so growth after year 10 adds no value, and the cost of capital moves to a mature company's.
Worth knowing
- The growth used is a decline: the lower of its 5- and 10-year revenue rates is negative.
- Revenue grew 9.0% a year over five years and shrank 0.7% over ten: the record points two ways.
- Profitable in 4 of the last ten years, so its median margin is a weak yardstick.
- Its margin moved over a range of 25.3% in ten years, so its median is a weak yardstick.
- Its debt is large against its usual earnings: rated D2/D at its median margin.
This is a mechanical starting point with neutral assumptions, not a valuation. The story decides.
Want to run your own story for Boeing?
Join the waitlistSources
- Price: Qualuation's records, close of November 11, 2026.
- 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2025, filed January 30, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-004357).
- 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2026, filed October 27, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-067508).
- Margin record: SEC filings, fiscal 2017-2025, operating margin adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Industry margin: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Aerospace/Defense, adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Sales to capital: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Aerospace/Defense.
- US 10-year Treasury yield (FRED), October 29, 2026.
- Less the US default spread (Damodaran Online, July 2026).
- Industry beta, Aerospace/Defense (Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- Equity risk premium (Damodaran Online, October 2026).
- Debt rated D2/D at its median margin (rating table, Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- The margin the price assumes: solved by the engine at the price on November 12, 2026, with the assumptions above.