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Shares of Boeing rising after the aviation giant reported a narrower than expected loss for the first quarter, as it expects to reach the maximum production of 737 max aircraft later this year. While these results do not include any impact of tariffs beyond March 31st, CEO Kelly Ortberg saying the company has the flexibility needed for the current macro environment. Joining us now to break down these results, we've got Tony Bancroft, Gabelli Funds portfolio manager in aerospace and defense here. Tony, good to see you here.

So, you know, one of the things that was really catching the street's attention here, it seems around Boeing, is them petitioning to be able to get production back to peak, or ramp up production more fully around the 737 max line here. If that is the case, what would the pass-through look like for Boeing's financial performance, and and how immediately would you expect to see that?

Yeah, uh it's great to be back. Um, you know, I I'd say the 38 a month rate cap is probably the critical, is sort of the critical component to to Boeing's, uh you know, cash flow performance going forward. Uh you know, they're just, right now, they're just subscale. They're not, they're not able to utilize, you know, their their their operating leverage they have with that installed base of of infrastructure. And and you know, until they really get back to near that 38 a month, they're they're going to be struggling. Um, so, you know, I I think over the next few months, uh hopefully, we'll see some uh good news. Obviously, so far, this week we're seeing good news and and from uh last week as far as, um you know, this morning, the earnings release and they're talking about a steady rate increase in production. Uh they're still confident with that 38 per month they can get by the end of the year. And then the wins on the F-47 and defense, um and then just overall stabilization of the business is all all good signs.

Tony, how good is this news? Is Boeing fully out of the woods in your view?

You know, I think it's incremental. Uh obviously this this tariff issue is going to be, it's still going to be a headwind until there's some resolution obviously. Boeing exports 80% of its, you know, of its products internationally. And I think, uh, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of moving parts in there, of course, uh countries that are, you know, potentially doing retaliatory tariffs like China, you know, they have their own issues. Uh, they they need these parts, 40% of their fleet is is a Boeing aircraft. They're trying to make um their own aircraft, the Comac, which is essentially a Boeing minus a 737 minus using all, mostly, you know, US/Western aircraft parts, including engines. So I think Boeing still has to work through that. But um in the in the near term this is definitely positive incremental news, especially with the cash flow burn is not as bad as people expected.