Boeing Is Stacking Wins, But Is It Still Too Risky to Buy?

Defense spending is climbing as global tensions push governments to rebuild stockpiles, while commercial air travel has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Yet one aerospace giant keeps delivering headline-grabbing contracts while its shares trade as if the good news never landed.

Boeing (BA) just announced a major Pentagon deal to triple production of a key Patriot missile component, and it played a central role in NASA’s latest moonshot milestone. So why has the stock given back ground this year? Here’s the data that separates the wins from the worries for everyday investors.

Boeing’s defense and space units delivered two clear victories in recent weeks. On April 1, the company and the Defense Department signed a seven-year framework agreement to triple production of PAC-3 seekers for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, ramping output from roughly 650 units per year to 2,000. Boeing’s Huntsville, Alabama, facility has already received more than $200 million in capacity investments since 2024. The stock jumped as much as 5.6% on the news.

At the same time, Boeing’s Space Launch System core stage—built in partnership with NASA—played a starring role in Artemis II, the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. Boeing engineers monitored the critical eight minutes after liftoff from the Mission Control Center at Kennedy Space Center. These contracts add to earlier 2026 defense wins, including multi-billion-dollar orders for F-15 fighters and Apache support, showing the industrial base is finally scaling.

The commercial airplane side tells a different story. In March, technicians discovered chafed wiring insulation on undelivered 737 MAX aircraft, forcing rework and delaying shipments. The Federal Aviation Administration responded with tighter oversight, capping production rates until Boeing proves consistent quality. Similar issues have cropped up on the 787 Dreamliner, echoing problems that have dogged the company since the 2019 MAX crisis and the 2024 door-plug incident.

The result? Boeing shares hit a 2026 low near $189 in mid-March and sit roughly 5% lower year-to-date (YTD), even after the Patriot pop. Over the past 12 months, the stock has gained about 22%, but that recovery feels fragile when every production hiccup makes headlines.