GE's power business has been struggling for some time now with stock declining on earnings in the past 11 out of 13 quarters. GE’s CEO Larry Culp is positive that the company will make substantial progress in the coming months, but for now there will be some residual effects from non-operational headwinds related to legal settlements and legacy project erosion.Further, GE’s cash flow may also be affected by restructuring and investments in health-care, but Culp assured shareholders that these are just one-time items, which in the long run will cool off. To buttress Culp’s optimism, analysts claim that whatever challenges the power business is facing today, GE is making a realistic assessment and tailoring a solution.

According to the latest media release by the U.S Department of Defense, Boeing has been awarded with an almost $2.5 billion contract for the production of 19 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft for the U.S Navy, Norway and the U.K. With 10 aircrafts, at almost $1.26 billion, the U.S. Navy purchase makes up 51% of the total contract value, while Norway’s five aircrafts at almost $695 million makes up 28%.The U.K’s initial operating capability is expected to be achieved in 2020, while Norway’s aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between 2022 and 2023. On January 25, Boeing delivered the first two KC-46 aerial re-fuelling tankers to the U.S. Air Force at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas The program is expected to be a landmark move which is two years behind schedule and more than $3 billion over budget. Enabled to carry torpedoes, depth charges, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and other weapons, P-8 Poseidon is a modified version of the Boeing 737-800E

Many on the Street left General Electric (NYSE:GE) and GE stock for dead.But it appears that both are in the midst of a comeback in the short-term and should be very well-positioned over the longer term. READ MORE...

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) on Monday announced its collaboration with U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWARSYSCEN) Atlantic (AT) in the form of an $898 million Navy Cyber Mission Engineering Support award contract, aimed at providing state-of-art solutions for the Navy and Marine Corps' warfighting needs. The award contract includes one two-year option ordering period, and one six-month option-to-extend-services  ordering period.Further, GDIT will also aim to compete for individual task orders showcasing its next-generation cyber and electronic warfare solutions, which would be particularly beneficial for the Navy’s foremost national security missions. According to GDIT’s Defense Division and Senior Vice President, Leigh Palmer, the deal is a big win for the company and he is optimistic that GDIT will utilize its decades of engineering and technical expertise to build mission- focused electronic warfare services across the various Na

Growing trade tensions, slowing growth in China and long order backlogs made 2018 a difficult year for aircraft manufacturers in terms of winning new commercial aircraft orders.And it's highly unlikely that Airbus, which has captured 380 net firm orders in the same time period, will be able to muster another December surprise just like 2017. Furthermore, with Boeing’s two late December noteworthy aircraft orders from Nigeria-based airline start-up Green Africa Airways and Saudi Arabia's Flyadeal, the chances of Airbus making a comeback have become even more difficult.

GE has decided to move ahead with its plans to spin off its second most profitable business line, sending shares more than 8% higher on Wednesday following the news. According to Bloomberg report, GE has confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO of its health-care unit - GE Healthcare. Expected to hit the market in mid-2019, GE is likely to work with JPMorgan (JPM) on the IPO.Further, according to the Bloomberg report, Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America, Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) are also expected to work with GE on the IPO. GE Healthcare realized a net profit of $3.4 billion on total revenue of ~$19 billion in 2017, making it a leading player in the hospital and lab equipment segment.

Boeing Co., the American aircraft manufacturer, announced on late Monday that it plans to increase its dividend payout by 20% to $2.055 a share and replace its existing share repurchase program with a newly authorized $20 billion share repurchase program, up from $18 billion program the board of directors approved in December 2017. The company has already repurchased shares worth $9 billion since last December, under the existing repurchase plan. With this latest increase in dividend payout, Boeing says it has increased its dividend nearly 325% over the past six years and repurchased more than 230 million shares over the same time period. Boeing shares surged nearly 2% to $322 in the after-hours trade, after Boeing’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg made the news public.

In response to rising pressure from China’s growing military strength and President Trump to spend more on American military hardware, the Japanese government on Tuesday announced that it plans to spend nearly $10 billion for fighter jets. Japan has expressed its plan to buy 147 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, up from the previously planned 42 fighter jets, making Japan the largest customer outside the U.S. for Lockheed Martin.The announcement comes after the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday approved an increase of Japan’s existing order, as the nation embarked on materializing its new defense strategy, which also includes the development of Tokyo’s first post-World War II aircraft carriers. According to the terms of the deal, around 40 of the jets out of the 147 will be the F-35B version – which is nearly 20% more expensive than the conventional F-35A but has the special ability of taking off and landing vertically and is expected to be used on two flat

Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer SA, confirmed on Monday that it has finalized terms of a proposed joint venture wherein the U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co. will have 80% control over the Brazilian company’s commercial aircraft and services operations. Valued at $4.2 billion, the long-awaited deal now only needs the approval of the Brazilian government and regulatory authorities to complete the remaining formalities, which is expected to arrive in the new year. The announcement, which comes after extensive legal deliberation, has also enhanced the valuation of Embraer's commercial business to $5.26 billion – nearly 11% more than the offered $4.75 billion when the deal involving Embraer’s commercial division was originally announced in July. Embear’s defense segment has been kept outside the purview of the commercial aircraft venture to minimize the concerns of Brazilian government. However, Embraer has confirmed that both companies have also agreed to engag

On Monday, Embraer announced that it finalized the terms of a proposed deal to sell 80% of its commercial aviation business to Boeing Co. As of now, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer's commercial aviation unit is valued at $5.26 billion - that’s higher than the $4.75 billion estimated when the deal was originally announced in July. The sale could fetch Embraer around $3 billion after accounting for closing costs. Embraer's board Monday put forth the proposed deal for approval from the Brazilian government. Additionally, Embrarer revealed plans of a joint venture with Boeing on promoting defense plane KC-390.

Shares of the crisis-stricken manufacturer, General Electric, surged more than 8% after the JPMorgan analyst Steve Tusa finally raised his rating to Hold from Sell. Steve Tusa, who has had a sell rating on GE for more than two years now, finally upgraded the shares citing the “known unknowns” risks weighing on the balance sheet are better understood now. In a note to the clients, he said that GE can pull off a recovery without another major stumble.He further added that the threat of further deterioration in GE’s liabilities is at least partially discounted now, and there is a possibility that the company can execute its way through an elongated workout that limits near-term downside. The unexpectedly upbeat sentiment resulted in the shares of GE soaring up as much as 12% in New York, its biggest intraday gain in a month.

UBS analyst Steven Winoker, in his latest report, revealed that GE still holds value for long-term investors and also reiterated his Buy rating with the 12-month price target of $13. Winoker admits that GE's primary concern is currently related to leverage.But he is optimistic that GE has plenty of levers to pull itself up and reduce its leverage down to a reasonable level in future, which in turn would create upside for the stock. According to Winoker, GE might be able to lower its leverage to ~3x net debt by 2020 and ~2x net debt by 2022 – which might help in regaining investor confidence. He further added that although it is difficult to predict at this moment what lies ahead, he expects GE to successfully divest its remaining stake in Baker Hughes (BHGE) in 2019 while relinquishing its stake in GE Healthcare by 2020, with 80% of the spin-off retained by GE shareholders. Winoker expects the healthcare spin-off will take $18 billion in gross debt, while support from GE’s

The globally renowned American aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company, Lockheed Martin, has announced teaming up with Airbus to compete for one of the most controversial Pentagon procurement battles in recent memory - hoping to dethrone Boeing as the dominant provider of U.S. military aerial-refueling tankers. Lockheed and Airbus have also signed an agreement to jointly pitch Airbus' A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) to the Pentagon. Jointly working with Northrop Grumman, in 2008, Airbus had won the $35 billion deal to build A330 tankers for the Air Force, but that deal never materialized as it was overturned owing to political pressure.In response, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson issued a rare public rebuke of the company's defense business earlier this year. Although Lockheed Martin and Airbus didn’t mention Boeing or the KC-46 in their press release formally announcing the collaboration, they mentioned putting focus on addressing any i

GE is facing yet another power problem as utility companies across different regions like Japan, Taiwan, France and at multiple U.S. sites have shut down or are planning to shut down GE’s gas turbines. According to more than a dozen interviews with plant operators and industry experts, at least 18 of the 55 new HA-model turbines that GE has shipped so far have been shut down by the power plant operators citing repairs as the reason. Following the recent GE turbine blade failure in Texas, these shutdowns are hurting the company as it comes at a time when GE is grappling with financial losses and a drop in orders for the massive generators supplying electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes. Although the 126-year-old conglomerate has declined to say how many turbines have been shut down to date, it has set aside $480 million to repair its 9HA, 7HA and 9FB model turbines as it restructures its power business. In an interview, GE gas power systems CEO Chuck Nugent playe

Shares of GE recorded their 20th decline in the last 23 trading sessions, after Gordon Haskett analyst John Inch indicated that the bankruptcy of helicopter lessor Waypoint Leasing could summon more trouble for GE’s finance arm, GE Capital.GE’s shares dropped by ~ 4.5% on Monday after Inch’s warning became public. According to Inch, Waypoint's excessive capacity and muted demand -- owing largely to the energy industry’s limited rotorcraft usage due to distress in the offshore oil and gas sector -- has further enhanced its struggles. GE had acquired Milestone Aviation Group in 2014 for $1.8 billion, on the assumption that there wouldn’t be any write-down of the goodwill.

In its latest quarterly regulatory filing, GE revealed it has almost $41 billion in credit lines involving dozens of U.S. banks, including Wall Street's big five. For investors already wary of GE's structural issues and ability to grow earnings, this revelation comes as an additional cause for concern -- particularly given that two of the U.S.’s biggest ratings agencies have downgraded GE's credit rating. In all, Wall Street’s biggest banks have committed to lend at least $3.5 billion each to GE. To be fair, GE had only utilized about $2 billion of the available credit by the end of the third quarter, and the company has been selling assets to generate cash.JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are the other two banks involved in the backup facility.

UBS analyst, Steven Winoker, in his recently released report has given GE a buy rating with a target stock price of $13. Despite the fact that the company’s bonds are on the verge of becoming junk-rated, he is still upbeat regarding GE and sees a path of improvement for both the leverage and valuation of the company. According to Steven Winoker, he expects General Electric to reduce its debt to far more acceptable levels by 2020, thus representing a long-term capital appreciation opportunity. With the company already starting a wave of transactions aimed at simplifying and restructuring its businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively in the long run, Winoker is optimistic the company is on the path of recovery and could be on the growth track again soon.

Boeing cancelled a conference call  with airlines about systems and features of its 737 MAX – a model which crashed in Indonesia in October. On October 29, a 737 MAX operated by Lion Air crashed, resulting in the death of all 189 passengers.) While Boeing has held off the conference call, the aircraft manufacturer will reportedly continue to interact with individual airlines on a regular basis, according to CNBC.

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $22.7 billion contract from the U.S. Navy to deliver 255 aircrafts of the F-35 family. According to the deal, Lockheed’s Aeronautics division's aircrafts will be allocated as follows: 64 F-35As for the U.S. Air Force, 26 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps,16 F-35Cs for the Navy, 89 F-35s for non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants and 60 F-35s for Foreign Military Sales customers. What makes this deal potentially even more crucial for Lockheed Martin is that F-35 aircraft models accounted for 27% of the company’s revenues in the third quarter this year, and helped its Aeronautics’ division’s annual revenues to increase by 19.6%.      

The Boeing Company's stock price has been taking a nosedive over the past week, amidst concerns that the aircraft manufacturer might be held accountable for last month’s Lion Air flight crash. Lion Air flight 610 -  a 737 MAX 8 model – crashed into the sea near Jakarta, Indonesia on October 29, leading to the death of all 189 passengers.The company also mentioned to CNN that  it has updated airlines about all the safety features on the 737 MAX 8, but said it does not "discuss specifics of an ongoing investigation".