Steady AerCap Continues To Offer Value

Aircraft leasing company AerCap Holdings (NYSE:AER) has done relatively well this year, with the shares slightly ahead of the S&P 500 on a year-to-date basis and slightly behind on a trailing 12-month comparison. The company has also continued to outperform its peers, with the shares outperforming Air Lease (NYSE:AL), Fly Leasing (NYSE:FLY) and Aircastle (NYSE:AYR) over the past year. Air traffic growth remains healthy on a global basis, oil prices are not yet at problematic levels for airlines, and rate increases give investment grade-rated AerCap an ongoing opportunity to take advantage of its better access to capital.

I continue to believe AerCap shares are undervalued, though the environment over the next couple of quarters may not be as conducive to outperformance. A shift away from significant asset sales is going to weigh on reported earnings, and a shift back toward portfolio growth is going to redirect capital away from share buybacks for a time. Even with that turbulence, though, I believe these shares are undervalued below the low-to-mid $60s.

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Steady AerCap Continues To Offer Value

Investopedia: Absent Macro Shocks, Cash And Expenses Will Drive Boeing

A year ago I thought that Boeing (NYSE:BA) looked undervalued and ready to outperform as investors bought in to the company's considerable commercial ramp. Since then, the stock is up about 20% and although worries about batteries on the 787 did create some headaches, the company remains in good shape with respect to its market share and backlog. I still believe that Boeing should sport a triple-digit stock price and though I won't ignore the risks of a major macroeconomic slowdown, I think the biggest concerns for Boeing are now reaching cost/profit targets and how to use the considerable sums of cash it will generate.

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Investopedia: Precision Castparts Goes For A Bold And Eminently Logical Deal

When it comes to specialty metal components manufacturer Precision Castparts (NYSE:PCP), it's really never a question as to whether management will do another deal. Rather, it's just a question of who the company will buy, how much it will pay and how successful it will ultimately prove to be.

Last week, though, management announced a real doozy - a $2.9 billion bid for titanium producer Titanium Metals (NYSE:TIE) (aka "Timet"). Although a large and expensive deal would be a significant risk for most companies, Precision Castparts is not like most companies, and I expect this deal will prove to be quite worthwhile for shareholders over time.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Precision-Castparts-Goes-For-A-Bold-And-Eminently-Logical-Deal-TIE-PCP-AA-BA1114.aspx

Seeking Alpha: Do Boeing Investors Need To Worry About The Order Book?

Commercial aerospace has moved from a state where investors worried about whether orders would materialize to worrying about the profitability and delivery timelines for those orders. More recently, though, the CEO of a major aircraft leasing company has sounded a warning that aircraft order rates may be unsustainable and suggested that the rich order books at Boeing (BA) and Airbus may end up being something of a mirage.

Warnings From Someone Who Ought To Know
Late in February, Aengus Kelly, the CEO of AerCap Holdings (AER), warned in an interview that the order books at Boeing and Airbus may never be fully realized. For those not familiar with AerCap, it's the third-largest aircraft lessor in the world and presently the largest publicly-traded lessor.

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Do Boeing Investors Need To Worry About The Order Book?

Investopedia: Will United Technologies Land Goodrich?

The economy may be slowing and Europe may still be smoldering, but none of that precludes good ol' fashioned buyout speculation. The latest big-deal rumors swirl through the aerospace industry, where United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) is widely rumored to be trying to strike a deal to acquire aircraft parts and components manufacturer Goodrich (NYSE:GR).


The Deal That May Be
If rumors are true, United Technologies has been busy lining up many billions in financing to launch a bid (rumors range from $10 billion to $20 billion). As it pertains to Goodrich, the target price for a deal seems to be in the range of $110 to $125 - prices that would be from 18 to 35% higher than Friday's close (a close that was bolstered by the deal rumors hitting the market on Friday).

Taking the midpoint of that range, United Technologies would be paying about 12 times trailing EBITDA for Goodrich. Though there have not been major aerospace deals in a while, that price would not be out of line for a deal like this; it overvalues Goodrich on a standalone basis, but United Technologies should be able to pull multiple operating synergies out of the deal, as well as expand into new market opportunities.


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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Will-United-Technologies-Land-Goodrich-UTX-GR-BA-TXT-COL-ERJ-HON0919.aspx

Can Boeing Afford More Delays?

Patience in a funny thing. Everybody wants a job to be done right, but they also want it done on a timescale that at least approximates the original estimates. Customers appreciate that Boeing (NYSE:BA) is attempting to do something quite extraordinary with the 787 Dreamliner project, but if the company cannot ever deliver the plane, who cares how amazing it is? 

More to the point - is Boeing running the risk of giving unintentional aid and comfort to emerging rivals? Should investors worry that Boeing's scale and technical expertise may all go for naught because the company was too ambitious and customers ultimately settle for lesser planes that rivals can actually deliver?  

More Problems ... Again
Boeing has had no shortage of problems with this new 787 plane. Problems with the Rolls Royce engine (one of the two available; the other being offered by General Electric (NYSE:GE)) got a lot of attention, and now Boeing has suspended test flights after an onboard electrical fire. While the company has not formerly altered the expected initiation of deliveries in the middle of the first quarter of 2011, the Dreamliner is already three years behind schedule and more delays seem more likely than not.

Of course, these delays need to be kept in perspective. There has never been a plane quite like the Dreamliner, and the scale of the engineering challenges are enormous. On top of that, these planes may spend well more than 30 years in service and it is clearly important to get everything right ahead of time.  

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Can-Boeing-Afford-More-Delays-BA-GE-ERJ-LMT-NOC-UTX-GR1208.aspx

Recovery? Specialty Chemicals Lead The Way

Although consumers are not necessarily feeling much better yet, the recovery in the industrial side of the economy seems to be real. Over the last week or so, we have seen several large industrial concerns report strong earnings and cautiously optimistic guidance. Turning to one of the basic feed stocks of industry, specialty chemicals, we see a similar trend at work. Let's take a look at some of the top-performing
companies in this sector.

Albemarle
Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) is mostly a niche producer of specialty chemicals, but do not be fooled into thinking that "niche" is somehow a bad word. Albemarle is a leading producer of refinery catalysts, fire retardants and pharmaceutical inputs and those can be lucrative segments.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/Specialty-Chemicals-Looking-Special-ALB-RPM-HXL-CYT-DD-DOW-BA0728.aspx.