Aerospance giant The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) is a stock that Jim Cramer got right well before its turn. Early last year, the CNBC TV host had wondered whether the firm’s cash flow problems were starting to resolve. Back then, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) was suffering from the impact of production shutdowns on its finances as the FAA started to investigate its processes in the aftermath of airplane accidents. However, over the year and year to date, the stock is up by 2.5% and 2.4%. Despite a year having passed since he was first optimistic about The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), Cramer continues to be upbeat about the firm:
“I told club members that Boeing is at last ready to run.. It can go much higher. The free cash flow–key metric-is that good”
The CNBC TV host’s remarks came after The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) reported its second quarter earnings. During the quarter, the aerospace giant posted $24.56 billion in revenue and $0.76 in loss per share. Consequently, its revenue beat analyst estimates of $24.25 billion, while the loss per share missed the estimate of $0.30. However, as Cramer mentioned, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)’s free cash was the start of the show. The firm posted $631 million in free cash flow, which beat analyst estimates of $177 million by a wide margin.
Since the earnings, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)’s shares are up by 9.9%. The debate between the bulls and the bears also concerns the free cash flow, as it centers around whether the firm will be able to turn around a struggling business. The bulls point towards the recent earnings performance to outline that The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) had grown its revenue by 8%. They also mention a massive $715 billion backlog to counter claims of limited visibility into the turnaround’s success.
However, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)’s bears point towards the forward P/E multiple. According to them, the Q2 loss per share missed analyst estimates by a wide margin, to be comfortable. This miss, according to them, means that the valuation multiples are absurd. For reference, The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)’s current forward P/E multiple, according to data compiled by Yahoo Finance, is 833. The bears also point towards the firm’s cash burn of $1.5 billion in the first quarter as well as the firm’s $54 billion in long and short-term debt, to outline potential future overhangs.
As the debate rages, 114 out of the 1,041 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s Q4 2025 database had held a stake in The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA). This figure dropped to 99 out of 1,022 ui Q1 2026 to indicate a potential weakness in sentiment or profit-taking after a strong year. Additionally, as of mid-July, short interest as a percentage of float was negligible. Notable exits in Q1 included Point72 Asset Management, Tudor Investment Corp, and Tudor Investment Corp.
While Insider Monkey acknowledges the risk and potential of BA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BA that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: Jim Cramer Draws the Line on NVIDIA in China: Why National Security Comes First and Jim Cramer Defends His Dell Stance as Investors Complain About Missing Out.
Disclosure: None.
Hedge Fund Resource Center