Note: Boeing stock is trading near 3 year lows on airline industry and Dreamliner delay concerns

Boeing Co is one of the great American engineering and manufacturing stories. The Boeing stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Boeing stock symbol is BA. The company is based out of Chicago, IL and in the past 35+ years has returned nearly 10,000% to shareholders in the form of share appreciation and dividends. The company works on commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, space systems.

Boeing stock is one of the most important plays in the aerospace sector. Boeing Co has placed a big bet on its new Dreamliner 787 jet and the Boeing stock estimates reflect a significant backlog of orders. The increase in oil costs and the subsequent hammering taken by the airline industry has tempered some of the excitement for the 787, not to mention, Boeing’s seemingly endless delays in production. That said, one of the main competitive advantages of the 787 is its composite, lightweight structure which will use less fuel. Boeing stock has one main direct competitor in the EADS built Airbus, but also competes for other projects with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrup Grumman (NYSE: NOC).

Boeing stock has long been a choice for long term investors and it has paid off. In the first half of 2008, the company was trading at 3 year lows for its current and forward price-to-earnings – 14.2 and 12.4 respectively at the time that this information was generated. A pretty nice valuation for a stock that is expected to grow nearly 12% long term and just above that in the short term. With dividends and stock splits, the management has always done a good job at maximizing shareholder value among its long investors. The company maintains above average dividend payouts currently, and over the past 5 years, compared to its peers. Bowing stock also blows away its peers on key management effectiveness ratios like return on assets, return on equity, and return on investment. If you’re looking at insider trading for Boeing as an indicator, purchases by William Daley and sales by John McDonnell have proven the most prophetic historically.