Boeing ranks fifth in the list of America’s biggest cumulative stock market compounders in history. But these days, it’s among the US’s foremost corporate dumpster fires — and could become the biggest “fallen angel” in history. Here’s what a quick scan of some recent MainFT headlines yields: Karma comes for Boeing’s shareholders. Can things get worse at Boeing? Boeing factory workers reject latest contract offer. Boeing reports $6bn loss as chief faults ‘serious performance lapses’.
This matters, because Boeing has issued bonds with a face value of $53bn . If it gets relegated from investment grade territory it would be the biggest “fallen angel” in history, surpassing the downgrade of Ford’s $52bn of debts in March 2020. It would instantly make it the single biggest high-yield bond issuer. Moreover, given that some investors have concentration limits, Boeing’s large probable weighting — 3.