United Air shares close lower on Friday, 737 MAX flights cancelled until early January, air carrier says

United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) announced on Friday that cancellations of Boeing 737 MAX flights would be extended until January 6th, since proposed software changes to the globally grounded jet are still extensively reviewed by regulatory authorities.

Previously, United’s 14 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets were pulled off its flight schedule until December 19th.

United Air shares closed lower for the seventh time in the past fourteen trading sessions on NASDAQ on Friday. The stock edged down 0.22% ($0.19) to $87.15, after touching an intraday high at $89.07, or a price level not seen since October 1st ($90.19).

Shares of United Airlines Holdings Inc have risen 4.08% so far in 2019 compared with an 18.49% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, United Air’s stock went up 24.23%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

Over 8 000 flights are now expected to be cancelled in October, November, December and the first several days of January, United Airlines said.

Regulatory updates will be monitored, the air carrier also said.

“We have cooperated fully with the FAA’s independent review of the MAX aircraft, and we won’t put our customers and employees on that plane until regulators make their own independent assessment that it is safe to do so,” United Airlines Holdings Inc said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

Boeing Co seeks to revise the 737 MAX software, so that it can take input from both of its angle-of-attack sensors in the jets’ anti-stall system, which was at the center of the two fatal incidents – in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Additionally, Boeing has discovered a flaw in the software architecture of the 737 MAX flight-control system, because of which input is received and used from the jet’s two flight control computers rather than one.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 17 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding United Air’s stock price, have a median target of $107.00, with a high estimate of $140.00 and a low estimate of $95.00. The median estimate represents a 22.78% upside compared to the closing price of $87.15 on October 11th.

The same media also reported that at least 13 out of 21 surveyed investment analysts had rated United Air’s stock as “Buy”, while 7 – as “Hold”.