Key Morningstar Metrics for Airbus Group
- Fair Value Estimate: €189
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★
- Morningstar Economic Moat Rating: Wide
- Morningstar Uncertainty Rating: Medium
Investors traded Airbus shares down 6% on Dec. 1 following news that the company had informed customers that a supplier quality-control issue affecting aluminum fuselage panels on several hundred A320 jets is being addressed.
Why it matters: Fresh on the heels of more dramatic news that most of the A320 fleet should be grounded until a software fix can be applied, a quality control problem affecting A320 production in the final stretch of 2025 may jeopardize the company’s ability to deliver on its 820-jet goal for the year.
- Reports indicate that aluminum panels on a total of 628 A320-family jets may exhibit thickness variations outside the manufacturer’s specifications. Of these, 168 planes are in service, and the rest are in final assembly or production with Airbus.
- Airbus has reportedly concluded the defect does not require emergency repair for the in-service fleet, and has already addressed it on in-production aircraft.
The bottom line: Whether or not wide-moat Airbus meets its annual goal or falls a few dozen aircraft short (to be delivered in early 2026) has little effect on our valuation, and we have not altered our EUR 189 per share fair value estimate ($55.00 per US ADR).
- The shares now trade within 2% of our fair value estimates, and we consider them fairly valued.
