Boeing (BA) management had to define its success this year by avoiding a strike by its machinists. The executives have already failed at getting the company's new flagship Dreamliner into production one time. In the process, they alienated a number of their key airline customers. Boeing management also lost its bid for the new Air Force tanker plane. Northrop Grumman (NOC) got the contract and Boeing is trying to get it back. As the incumbent, Boeing should not have lost it in the first place.

Sin Stocks provide protection in a down market. In this piece we focus on Northrop Grumman.

An investment trust managed by Wells Real Estate Funds has aqcuired the WestQuest Technology Park, a 315,000-square-foot office park near Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport leased to defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE: NOC). (NOC)

The defense contractor wraps up a good quarter, a bad quarter, both, and neither.

Boeing (BA) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers vowed to stick to their positions as each prepared for a vote Wednesday that could shut down production. The union which represents about 26 800 workers struck 3 years ago during the last round of negotiations. A strike would cost Boeing about $100 million a day in lost revenue the Wall Street Journal reports. A strike would further delay delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner already 2 years behind schedule. When the union struck for 28 days in 2005 several Boeing suppliers temporarily laid off workers because parts were ...

Filed under: Boeing Co (BA), Politics, Presidential elections, Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Yesterday I speculated that McCain picked Sarah Palin as his VP over the objections of his advisers. I thought that McCain -- who prides himself on fighting corruption in politics -- somehow saw himself in her. But both politicians have experience with the very thing they pride themselves on fighting.

In the case of McCain, his efforts to rid politics of the corrupting influence of corporate money followed his protection of Charles Keating who was securing a real estate deal for his wife, Cindy. The bankruptcy of Keating's S&L cost taxpayers $3.4 billion. More recently former McCain Finance Chair Tom Loeffler, a lobbyist for French company EADS, parent of Airbus, helped it and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) to prevail in a $35 billion competition for airborne refueling Tankers in February over Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) before the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that the process was flawed.

Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, knows a thing or two about lobbyists. The New York Times reveals that she won that post after taking on bribery charges from the oil industry against politicians -- her attack against such corrupting influences helped her prevail over former Alaska governor, Frank Murkowski. That's why it came as a surprise to learn that as governor Palin employed a lobbyist for an energy company for which she procured $500 million in state subsidies so it could build a gas pipeline.

Continue reading Palin and McCain share a love of lobbyists

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The Boeing Co. (BA) doesn’t believe it can win the controversial competition for a $35 billion U.S Air Force tanker contract without a six-month extension, and now has threatened to pull out of the competition altogether.

The Chicago-based Boeing said it wants…

The USAF tanker contract bidding process has added yet another wrinkle today as Boeing (BA) has asked for an extended deadline before it submits a bid to the Department of Defense. As we have posted on previously, the contract was originally awarded to No[More...]

Filed under: Boeing Co (BA), Presidential elections, Northrop Grumman (NOC)

BusinessWeek reports that Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has repeated its threat not to bid on the $35 billion competition to supply an airborne refueling tanker to the Air Force. This is a competition that pits a Republican presidential candidate and his lobbyist former finance chair on the dole of a French aircraft company and its Alabama partner against the future prospects of a Democratically controlled Congress and White House that would tend to favor Boeing -- which has many workers in Washington state.

By threatening not to bid, Boeing is taking many big risks. The Air Force may decide to keep the terms of the competition the same -- bids due October 1 -- and contract wrap up before New Year's Day. If Boeing does not bid and the competition proceeds, EADS, parent of Airbus, and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) -- with many of its workers in the Republican-leaning Alabama -- would win the bid uncontested. If the Air Force extends the process another four months -- which Boeing would prefer -- there is a chance that the Air Force would still end up choosing the French company.

But Boeing is gambling that the odds of a more favorable outcome are greater if it threatens not to bid. Boeing thinks that Congress will not want only one bid for the Tanker and that Congress and the White House are likely to be controlled by the Democratic party in January. With the French lobbyist-backed candidate in the Senate minority, Boeing will be in a better position to shape the Tanker competition in a way that favors its victory.

Continue reading To bid, or not to bid: That is Boeing's question

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Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Boeing Co (BA), Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Boeing (NYSE: BA) lost its bid for the new Air Force tanker to Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC). The aircraft builder was able to get the process re-opened and now has a shot at getting the business which was awarded to Northrop.

Winning another chance at the big contract is not enough. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Boeing Co. said it is inclined to bail out of its effort to win a $40 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force unless the Pentagon agrees to give it a total of six months to submit a new bid."

Boeing claims that it will take a long time to figure out how to configure one of its airplanes to haul the amount of jet fuel required by the Air Force.

The request is bogus. Boeing has been through the bidding process for the tanker once before. The idea that the company did not understand the specifications is remarkable.

Boeing may be trying to gain time to shave some of its costs off the project so that it can bring the price of its bid down. It should have done that in the first round. There is no reason it should get that additional time.

It is no wonder Northrop got the original approval, and it is likely to get it again in this round.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Two Veteran Wall Street Analysts Review the June 20, 2008 Edition of the Value Line Investment Survey

Elizabeth Harrow takes a look back at news driving the market today.

Jocelynn Drake takes a look at market news before the open.