Boeing employees and leaders on Tuesday celebrated the 10,000th 737 aircraft built.
The aircraft company says the 737 family is built at the most efficient single-aircraft production plant in the world — located in Renton, Washington.
Boeing said last fall it upped its monthly production of 737 jets from 42 to 47 jets. Last year 529 jets were delivered.
Boeing is the hottest stock in the Dow. Again
One stock has been able to steer clear of all the recent market turbulence: Boeing.
Shares of the aerospace and defense giant are up more than 20% so far in 2018 — making it the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Boeing was the top Dow stock of 2017 too, surging nearly 90%.
Boeing has benefited from strong airline orders for its 737 MAX 8 and 787 Dreamliner planes. That is helping to offset poor results in its defense business, which reported a 7% drop in sales in 2017.
The company is expecting that defense, space and security sales will rebound a bit this year. But it’s worth noting this division accounts for just 22% of expected 2018 revenue.
Boeing forecasts that its commercial airplane unit will bring in 62% of overall revenue. (The remainder comes from its services division.)
And the commercial jet business is booming as major airlines around the globe are upgrading their fleets.
Read more: Boeing’s Renton plant builds 10,000th 737 aircraft
