BA has stabilised after last week's sharp sell-off, gaining 1.8% on the week to $218.90 — but the more interesting development is happening in the options market, where sentiment has shifted more decisively toward calls than at any point in the past year.
The options story is the standout this week. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.77, now nearly a full standard deviation below its 20-day average of 0.82 — and at 0.72 last Friday, it touched the 52-week floor. That is not a residual positioning unwind from two weeks ago; the ratio has stayed depressed for over a week now, suggesting traders are actively reaching for upside rather than passively letting hedges expire. The contrast with the defensive posture that was prevalent through April and early May — when the PCR ran consistently above 0.88 — is sharp. Call buyers are back.
Short interest, meanwhile, has stopped building. It trimmed 1.4% on the week to 2.14% of free float — a modest retreat from the 2.17% flagged in last week's note, though still roughly 20% above where it was a month ago. The absolute level remains low enough that the short book is not a structural overhang. Borrow costs have ticked up 8% on the week to 0.47% but that is still effectively negligible. Availability is extraordinarily wide at 3,447% — there are roughly 359 million shares available to lend against a short position of just 16 million. The lending market is signalling no squeeze pressure whatsoever. Positioning looks selectively optimistic rather than crowded in either direction.
The Street broadly agrees that the stock has room to run. The mean analyst price target is $270, implying roughly 23% upside from current levels. The most recent change was Citigroup's John Godyn lifting his target to $260 on May 18 while maintaining his Buy — the first upward revision from Citi since the firm cut its target sharply in early April amid tariff concerns. Morgan Stanley maintained Equal-Weight with a $250 target after Q1 results, and Wells Fargo initiated coverage at Overweight with $250 in late March. The direction of travel among the bulls has been to rebuild targets after April's cuts, though the Street is not unanimous — the Equal-Weight camp is anchored around the $245-$250 range. The EPS momentum factor scores paint a more nuanced picture: 30-day EPS momentum ranks in the 96th percentile, yet forward earnings estimates on a year-over-year basis rank in just the 3rd percentile. That combination — strong near-term estimate revisions against a deeply negative longer-term growth backdrop — helps explain why multiple re-rating has been uneven. The P/E has compressed 53 points over the past 30 days to 152x, still a demanding multiple that prices in a recovery trajectory Boeing has to deliver on.
Boeing's April 22 Q1 report delivered a 6.8% single-day gain — the only confirmed earnings reaction in the history window — suggesting the market is willing to reward any credible evidence of operational progress. The next print is scheduled for July 29. Between now and then, the stock's trajectory is likely to hinge less on macro inputs and more on weekly delivery data, the pace of the 737 MAX production ramp, and whether Q2 cash burn continues to narrow.
Peer context worth noting: AIR gained 8.6% on the week and FTAI added 9.9%, both outpacing Boeing's 1.8% move. SAF on Euronext Paris added 7.7%. The aerospace supply chain is clearly catching a bid — Boeing is participating, but not leading the move. Whether that gap closes ahead of the July earnings date is the question to watch.
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