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Technology Stocks : Boeing keeps setting new highs! When will it split? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marvin L.Covey who wrote (2750)	5/28/2000 8:57:00 AM
From: Neil H	Respond to of 3764

Boeing to land record fighter order By Ivar M Simensen, FTMarketWatch Last Update: 8:35 AM ET May 28, 2000 NewsWatch Latest headlines Boeing Co. is thought to have won the battle with Lockheed Martin to get the world?s biggest order for combat aircraft, The Sunday Times said. The deal is said to worth up to $200 billion and includes constructing as many as 3,000 aircraft to be delivered to the U.S. Marine Corp. and the Royal British Navy. The U.S. Navy and Air Force will also be buying the Joint Strike Fighter planes. The Pentagon is not making its decision until next year, but industry experts said Boeing?s design seemed to be superior and that time was running out for Lockheed to close the gap. Whichever company wins the Pentagon decision, the orders will be split between them. Vance Coffman, Lockheed?s chairman predicted that the ?winner takes all? policy would be abandoned, and that most aerospace groups would benefit from the mega deal. Analysts believe the orders will be split 60 - 40 between the companies. Other companies in the industry, such as British Aerospace Systems, will also gain on any given outcome as it holds partnerships with both companies. BAe holds a 12 percent stake in Lockheed Martin?s JSF bid, and has a strategic link-up with Boeing, following its acquisition of Marconi Electric Systems from the old General Electric Co. Shares of Boeing (BA: news, msgs) were down 1/8 to 38 1/4, while Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT: news, msgs) closed down 1/4 to 24 1/16.

To: Marvin L.Covey who wrote (2750)	7/2/2000 12:44:02 PM
From: Neil H	Respond to of 3764

Sunday July 2 12:30 PM ET CEO Says Boeing Has Profit-Boosting Plan By Chris Stetkiewicz SEATTLE (Reuters) - In its effort to boost profits and cash flow Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) will likely jettison less lucrative parts shops as it embraces more specialized airplane assembly operations, Chief Executive Phil Condit told Reuters. While the aerospace giant has been seeking assets to unload or consolidate since 1998, its streamlining process has zeroed in on non-essential parts fabrication of late, with plans to sell off plants and consolidate parts work. ``We tend to be moving away from detailed parts fabrication. Our skills are integration and assembly as opposed to making clips and brackets and small parts,'' Condit said in an interview at Boeing's Seattle headquarters. Speak your mind Discuss this story with other people. [Start a Conversation] (Requires Yahoo! Messenger) In June Boeing announced plans to sell off a vastly underutilized plant in St. Louis employing 1,700 people making components for its military jet factory there. Last week the company said it would cut 900 jobs over two years at its Huntington Beach, Calif. facility, shifting Delta rocket work now done there to other plants in Pueblo, Colo., and Decatur, Alabama. After buying McDonnell Douglas for $16.3 billion 1997 Boeing posted its first full year loss in 50 years and has since struggled to rebuild its profits even as commercial airplane deliveries hit a record 620 in 1999. Analysts say part of Boeing's current inefficiencies can be traced to overlapping work by McDonnell Douglas units which Boeing has not yet fully rationalized. Lately Boeing has demonstrated a vigorous commitment to rightsizing its sprawling empire, which posted revenues of $58 billion in 1999, but a relatively modest profit of $1.2 billion as rival Airbus Industrie ARBU.UL continued to gain in jetliner sales. ``We are looking aggressively at how much facilities we have, what are our assets, are we using them wisely, are we doing the right work in the right place and we'll continue doing that. But you've got to do it very carefully,'' Condit said. Recent rumors have Boeing selling or shutting down its Auburn, Wash. fabrication headquarters, where it produces more than 12 million airplane parts per year. Condit called that rumor premature speculation. ``That's well beyond where we are at this point. We're trying to understand each piece of what we're doing,'' he said. But Boeing workers have plenty to be nervous about, including a campaign to trim the overall payroll which has so far slashed about 50,000 jobs from a 1998 peak of 238,600. Another 10,000 could go by the end of 2000. Condit noted that the proposed $3.75 billion purchase of Hughes Electronics Corp.'s (NYSE:GMH - news) satellite building operations could put another 9,000 people on the payroll. ``By year-end we should have the Hughes deal closed. That adds,'' Condit said, stressing that raising 737 production to 28 per month sometime in 2001 from 24 now would also add jobs. ``As we decide not to do particular kinds of work, those will be downs. But we are trying very hard wherever possible to find jobs for people,'' Condit said. ``Someone who is trained and understands Boeing systems has a real value to us.'' Despite a disruptive 40-day strike by its 20,000-strong engineers' union last winter, and a recent surge in defections among that group, Condit described overall labor relations as ''very good.'' ``If you compare us to high-tech, they tend to run at five times the turnover that we run. Ours has gone up a little, but it's still way below where the high-tech industry runs,'' Condit said. As for his own job, Condit expressed a desire to stay on and complete the current belt-tightening phase, with an eye toward building a leaner, more profitable company, and boosting its underperforming stock price in the years ahead. ``I'm not planning on going anywhere,'' said Condit, a month shy of his 59th birthday. Will he stay another 6 years until he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65? ``That is, and should be, the province of the board of directors,'' Condit said. ``If we accomplish all those things we're talking about and do them well, I suspect I'll be around. If I don't then somebody else will get to try.''