Boeing’s factories stall, yet this aviation supplier’s orders jumped 49% RSS CTA

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Even as Boeing (NYSE:BA) struggles with factory halts and quality audits, airlines are flying older planes longer. For travelers, it means boarding an older jet, but for companies that service them, it keeps maintenance revenue flowing. 

GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) is collecting much of it. Orders jumped 49% to $19.0 billion last quarter and raised its full-year outlook for a fourth straight quarter. It points to where airline spending is going: keeping existing planes in service through shop visits and spare parts.

That gap between stalled aircraft production and rising maintenance demand shows where the steadier money in aviation sits. ProPicks AI’s data-driven Beat the S&P 500 strategy added GE at the November 1 rebalance. GE sits alongside an online travel leader up 3.5% in November, a biopharma giant up 30.1% since it was first identified by the models and a health insurer up 15.3%.

Servicing The Fleet That Is Already Flying

Commercial segment revenue grew 21% in the third quarter, the sixth straight quarter of growth at 20% or better. Services revenue rose 17%, and segment orders jumped 58%, ahead of the company-wide 49%.

Adjusted operating profit climbed 30% to $3.0 billion, a 22.5% margin that expanded 220 basis points, and adjusted EPS of $2.25 rose 36% and beat consensus estimates of $2.00. Management raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $8.00 to $8.10 from $7.65 to $7.85.

The industry’s largest installed base, more than 80,000 units, sits behind a services backlog above $170 billion, and services orders are up 30% so far this year. More than 95% of fourth-quarter spare-parts revenue is already in that backlog.

Airlines are also holding on to older aircraft: CFM56 retirement rates have fallen to roughly 1.5% to 2.0%, well below the 3% to 4% originally forecast, which extends demand for parts and repairs. That work comes from aircraft already in service, so it does not wait on the delivery delays at Boeing.

A Maintenance Cycle With Years of Visibility

LEAP deliveries are up 26% year to date, and IndiGo’s agreement for more than 1,000 LEAP-1A units was the largest LEAP deal ever. The LEAP and GEnx installed bases are expected to roughly double by 2030, which should lift high-margin shop visits. LEAP shop visits are projected to grow about 25% to 26% in 2027 after 40%-plus growth this year.

Management guides to roughly flat commercial segment margins in 2027, as services growth offsets losses on the GE9X ramp, and expects expansion to resume from 2028. The GE9X still awaits FAA certification, which management targets for year-end. Free cash flow conversion has run at 105% year to date, and raised guidance calls for $9.1 billion to $9.4 billion of free cash flow in 2026.

Valuation is the counterweight. GE trades at a forward multiple of 36.6 times, and the shares slipped about 4% in premarket trading on the October 20 results despite the beat, as investors questioned the pace of future growth. All but one of the latest Wall Street ratings are Buy, and consensus analyst projections compiled on InvestingPro have EPS rising from $8.24 this year to $10.39 in 2028, which would take that multiple to about 29 times.

The dividend is a smaller part of the case, with a yield of 0.62%, though InvestingPro’s ProTips note payments for 56 consecutive years. The GE Aerospace Pro Research Report goes deeper on service margins, shop-visit trends and the dividend record.

Finding Top Performers Beyond Aviation

GE’s order growth and visible backlog support the operating case, and the next test comes on January 21, when it is due to report fourth-quarter results and full 2027 guidance.

ProPicks AI’s strategies refresh every month, and the updated Beat the S&P 500 lineup now spans travel, biopharma and health insurance. With the November rebalance now live, full access to all ProPicks AI strategies costs $9 a month.

The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned. Data and financial metrics as of November 4, 2026.