Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPR) has effectively reached the end of its life as a standalone public stock.
On December 8, 2025, Boeing officially completed its acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems, halted trading in SPR, and kicked off the process to delist the shares from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). [1]
For anyone who owns SPR, tracks aerospace stocks, or just likes untangling big industrial deals, this is a pivotal day.
Key takeaways for Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) on December 8, 2025
- Trading in SPR is halted and the stock is being delisted from the NYSE. [2]
- Each Spirit share is being converted into Boeing stock at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.1955 Boeing (BA) shares per SPR share. [3]
- The deal is valued at about $4.7 billion in equity, or roughly $8.3 billion including debt, making it one of the most consequential supply‑chain moves in modern aerospace. [4]
- Airbus is simultaneously taking over key Spirit sites and receiving about $439 million in compensation as part of a carve‑out. [5]
- Spirit’s latest earnings show heavy losses, big program charges, and “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern without fresh support—a big part of why this merger exists at all. [6]
Let’s unpack what actually happened today, what it means for SPR stockholders, and how this reshapes the Boeing–Airbus–Spirit triangle.
What happened to Spirit AeroSystems stock today?
Trading halted and delisting underway
Ahead of the market open on December 8, Spirit notified the NYSE that its merger with Boeing had been completed and asked the exchange to halt trading in SPR before the opening bell. [7]
- MarketBeat’s SPR forecast page notes that trading in Spirit AeroSystems was halted at 08:24 a.m. EST due to “Merger Effective.” [8]
- The last recorded closing price for SPR was $39.44 on Friday, December 5, 2025. [9]
Shortly after, the NYSE filed a Form 25 with the SEC to remove Spirit’s Class A common stock from listing and registration under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act—formally beginning the delisting process. [10]
If you log into your brokerage today:
- You’ll likely see SPR marked as halted or pending corporate action.
- Over the coming days (mechanics can vary by broker), your SPR position will be replaced by Boeing (BA) shares, in line with the merger exchange ratio.
There is no longer a tradable SPR “investment case” going forward: the economic exposure is now primarily through Boeing stock, and, to a smaller extent, through Airbus if you follow the assets that moved there.
Deal terms in plain English: what SPR shareholders actually receive
Exchange ratio and implied value
Under the Agreement and Plan of Merger, each share of Spirit Class A common stock was:
- Automatically canceled, and
- Converted into the right to receive Boeing common stock at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.1955 BA shares per 1 SPR share. [11]
The same ratio applies to restricted shares and RSUs, which are being converted into Boeing equity awards on equivalent terms. [12]
To get a feel for the economics (not a guarantee):
- Boeing shares were quoted around $204–205 in morning trading as the deal was reported. [13]
- At roughly $205 per BA share, 0.1955 Boeing shares per SPR share imply a value around $40 per SPR share, which lines up closely with Spirit’s last standalone close near $39.44. [14]
In other words, most of the SPR “upside” was already priced in as a merger‑arb situation going into today. The arbitrage trade is now effectively over; what’s left is simply owning Boeing.
Headline deal value
News and regulatory filings describe the deal in two overlapping ways:
- About $4.7 billion in equity value, paid in Boeing stock. [15]
- About $8.3 billion total transaction value, once Spirit’s substantial debt pile is included. [16]
From Boeing’s perspective, this is the financial equivalent of buying back a key organ it outsourced twenty years ago, debt and all.
Who gets what: Boeing, Airbus, and the Spirit Defense carve‑out
Boeing’s haul
According to Boeing’s own press release, the company is bringing all of Spirit’s Boeing‑related commercial operations back in‑house, including: [17]
- Fuselages for the 737 program
- Major structures for the 767, 777, and 787
- Fuselages and structures for P‑8 and KC‑46
- Spirit’s aftermarket and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) businesses, making Boeing its own largest parts supplier
Boeing is also:
- Absorbing major Spirit facilities in Wichita (KS), Dallas (TX), and Tulsa (OK) into Boeing Commercial Airplanes. [18]
- Taking over parts of the Belfast, Northern Ireland operation, which will operate as “Short Brothers, a Boeing Company.” [19]
Roughly 15,000 Spirit employees are now Boeing employees. [20]
Airbus’ carve‑out and compensation
The deal could not pass antitrust review if Boeing simply scooped up all of Spirit’s Airbus‑facing work. The solution: Airbus gets its own slice of Spirit.
Airbus’s December 8 press release confirms that it has closed a parallel transaction to acquire Spirit assets that feed its programs, including: [21]
- Kinston, North Carolina – A350 fuselage sections
- Saint‑Nazaire, France – A350 fuselage sections
- Casablanca, Morocco – A321 and A220 components
- Belfast, Northern Ireland – A220 wings and mid‑fuselage
- Prestwick, Scotland – A320 and A350 wing components
In return, Airbus receives $439 million in compensation, plus additional amounts to settle certain liabilities—essentially getting paid to take on structurally important but not necessarily high‑margin work. [22]
Spirit Defense: a standalone Boeing subsidiary
To avoid messing up the defense ecosystem, Boeing has created “Spirit Defense”, which:
- Sits under Boeing Defense, Space & Security,
- Supports non‑Boeing defense and space customers, and
- Is intended to operate with a degree of independence so it can keep supplying other primes. [23]
This structure echoes the requirements set out in the FTC’s consent order, which forces Boeing to keep certain Spirit capabilities accessible to competitors in military programs and to divest Spirit’s Airbus‑serving businesses and its Subang, Malaysia operation to Airbus and CTRM respectively. [24]
Regulators in the U.S. and EU clearly treated Spirit as critical infrastructure for commercial and military aviation, not just another supplier to be quietly absorbed.
Spirit’s Q3 2025 results: a struggling supplier at the heart of the deal
If you only look at headlines like “Boeing closes $4.7 billion Spirit acquisition,” the story sounds like a clean strategic move. The Q3 2025 numbers tell you why Spirit couldn’t realistically stay independent.
A synthesis of Spirit’s Q3 earnings release and independent analysis looks like this: [25]
- Revenue: about $1.585–1.59 billion, up roughly 8% year‑on‑year.
- GAAP EPS:–$6.16 per share.
- Adjusted EPS:–$4.87 per share.
- Operating margin: about –40.8%, significantly worse than the already‑ugly prior year.
- Charges: around $585 million in net forward losses, plus $14 million in unfavorable catch‑ups and $55 million in excess capacity costs in the quarter alone.
- Cash and debt: cash balance about $299 million, with ~$4.34 billion in total debt, and continued negative free cash flow.
Management explicitly stated there is “substantial doubt” about Spirit’s ability to continue as a going concern based on its standalone liquidity profile and expected future losses, while also noting that progress on the Boeing transaction and asset sales (like the Subang, Malaysia facility) are key to keeping things afloat. [26]
Spirit also stopped providing forward guidance and skipped its usual earnings call, citing the pending merger—essentially telling investors: “The next chapter of this story will be written inside Boeing.” [27]
So the strategic narrative—Boeing re‑verticalizing a key supplier—is inseparable from the financial reality: Spirit was burning cash, carrying heavy debt, absorbing huge program losses, and heavily dependent on both Boeing and Airbus for survival.
Analyst forecasts and institutional positioning before SPR disappears
Analyst coverage of SPR hasn’t had much room to maneuver since the merger was announced; the upside and downside were mostly bounded by deal risk and Boeing’s share price, not by classical “value vs. growth” arguments.
Street view on SPR heading into December 8
MarketBeat’s SPR forecast page (which is now essentially a historical artifact) shows: [28]
- Consensus rating:Hold, based on 5 analysts
- 1 Sell
- 3 Hold
- 1 Strong Buy
- Average 12‑month price target:$38.63, with a range of roughly $37.25 to $40.
- Relative to the last close of $39.44, the average target implied a small downside (~2%), signaling that most of the “merger value” was already in the stock.
Public.com’s summary of analyst views is broadly consistent: 2 analysts, both at Hold, with an average target around $38.62. [29]
In other words, analysts were largely marking time:
- SPR had limited standalone upside given its stressed balance sheet and program losses.
- The merger ratio plus Boeing’s stock price set a soft ceiling on what arbitrageurs could reasonably expect.
Institutional ownership and merger‑arb flavor
MarketBeat’s institutional holdings snapshot and SEC summaries indicate that roughly 90–95% of Spirit’s float was in institutional hands, including merger‑arbitrage and event‑driven funds. [30]
One example: Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its SPR stake by around 6.3% during Q2 2025, but still held hundreds of thousands of shares at mid‑year—consistent with a portfolio being managed around a pending corporate action rather than a fundamental long‑term bet. [31]
With the deal now closed, SPR‑specific price targets and ratings essentially become historical notes. Future analysis will migrate into:
- Boeing coverage (how the acquired operations affect BA’s margins, capex, and risk profile), and
- Airbus coverage (how taking over ex‑Spirit assets, plus the $439 million compensation, changes Airbus’s industrial and financial mix). [32]
How regulators reshaped the deal: FTC, EU and the “too important to fail” supplier
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and EU regulators did not rubber‑stamp this merger. They treated it as a national‑scale industrial policy moment disguised as an M&A filing.
On December 3, 2025, the FTC announced a consent order that: [33]
- Requires Boeing to divest Spirit businesses that supply Airbus, with those assets going to Airbus.
- Forces the sale of Spirit’s Subang, Malaysia facility to CTRM, given its importance to both Boeing and Airbus.
- Imposes conditions that Spirit Defense must remain available as a supplier to Boeing’s competitors in military programs and must protect confidential information.
The EU had already approved the merger earlier in 2025, contingent on the same core remedy: Airbus gets direct control over its critical Spirit‑supplied structures instead of relying on Boeing‑owned capacity. [34]
Put bluntly: regulators allowed Boeing to reacquire its old manufacturing arm, but only after carving out the parts that would have turned Boeing into gatekeeper of Airbus’s supply chain.
What this means if you own (or used to own) SPR
If you held Spirit AeroSystems shares as of the merger close:
- Your Spirit shares have been canceled.
- You’re entitled to Boeing shares at the 0.1955 exchange ratio per SPR share.
- The actual number of BA shares you’ll see in your account depends purely on that ratio and how your broker rounds fractional shares or handles cash‑in‑lieu. [35]
Because trading in SPR is halted and the NYSE is delisting the stock, there is no way to trade SPR itself anymore. Ownership and future performance are now tied to BA, plus any other positions you might choose to take (for example in Airbus) if you want more direct exposure to the assets that moved to Europe. [36]
From an investment‑risk perspective, you’ve:
- Swapped exposure to a highly leveraged, loss‑making supplier with going‑concern warnings,
- For exposure to a much larger, still‑challenged but more diversified OEM whose fate is now tied to delivering on this integration and fixing its 737/787 quality and rate issues. [37]
Whether that is “better” or “worse” depends entirely on your view of Boeing’s ability to:
- Clean up the combined production system,
- Absorb Spirit’s losses and debt without crushing its own balance sheet, and
- Avoid further quality or safety crises.
Big picture: from outsourcing to re‑integration
One of the more interesting threads in today’s coverage is not about price targets at all, but about industrial philosophy.
Spirit was carved out of Boeing’s Wichita operations in 2005, at a time when “asset‑light” and outsourced manufacturing were in fashion. [38]
Two decades, several safety crises, and a lot of supply‑chain chaos later:
- Boeing is reversing that bet, pulling Spirit’s Boeing‑centric work back inside its own four walls. [39]
- Airbus is doing the same in miniature, taking direct control of critical structures and getting paid to do it. [40]
Spirit’s Q3 numbers show a company that had become structurally fragile—debt‑heavy, margin‑thin, and exposed to every hiccup in the 737, 787, A220 and A350 programs. [41]
From today onward, the stock story is simpler:
- SPR is gone as a standalone ticker.
- The economic story lives on inside BA (and somewhat inside AIR on the Airbus side).
From a systems perspective, the aerospace industry just “re‑wired” one of its most important components.
References
1. investors.boeing.com, 2. www.sec.gov, 3. www.stocktitan.net, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.airbus.com, 6. fintool.com, 7. www.sec.gov, 8. www.marketbeat.com, 9. www.marketbeat.com, 10. www.stocktitan.net, 11. www.stocktitan.net, 12. www.stocktitan.net, 13. www.nasdaq.com, 14. www.marketbeat.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. flightplan.forecastinternational.com, 17. investors.boeing.com, 18. investors.boeing.com, 19. investors.boeing.com, 20. investors.boeing.com, 21. www.airbus.com, 22. www.airbus.com, 23. investors.boeing.com, 24. www.ftc.gov, 25. fintool.com, 26. fintool.com, 27. www.spiritaero.com, 28. www.marketbeat.com, 29. public.com, 30. www.marketbeat.com, 31. www.marketbeat.com, 32. www.airbus.com, 33. www.ftc.gov, 34. fintool.com, 35. www.stocktitan.net, 36. www.stocktitan.net, 37. fintool.com, 38. flightplan.forecastinternational.com, 39. flightplan.forecastinternational.com, 40. www.airbus.com, 41. fintool.com
