In the fierce competition among aircraft makers, this giant is attempting a bold takeover to upstage an alliance between two rivals.

The U.S. company has just completed a strong year in sales and has a large order backlog. Its shares are up more than 100% in the past year. But it wants to acquire new jets to counteract the deal between Europe’s Airbus and Canada’s Bombardier.

BOEING CO. (New York symbol BA; www.boeing.com) is a leading maker of passenger jets, military aircraft and satellites.

The company wants to acquire a controlling interest in Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer SA (New York symbol ERJ). That would give it access to Embraer’s smaller passenger jets, which carry between 70 and 140 passengers. Boeing’s popular new single-aisle 737 MAX planes face renewed competition from Bombardier’s CSeries planes.

The Embraer jets would help Boeing compete against the new alliance formed by its main rival, Europe’s Airbus. That company recently agreed to acquire 50.01% of Bombardier’s new CSeries program. (Bombardier, Toronto symbols BBD.A and BBD.B, is a recommendation of The Successful Investor, our newsletter focused on Canadian stocks.)

Airbus’s manufacturing and marketing expertise should spur CSeries’ sales. Moreover, Bombardier has now won a dispute that would have imposed a 300% tariff on the planes it sells to the U.S.

It’s unlikely that the Brazilian government, which controls Embraer, would approve a direct sale. The Brazilian firm’s military business is a particularly sensitive area. Boeing could instead seek to form a joint venture with Embraer. However, that would give it fewer opportunities to access Embraer’s engineering expertise and cut its costs.

Growth stocks: Company raises dividend while it continues big share buyback

Boeing’s 737 MAX planes helped spur a recent spike in orders. In November 2017, the company secured new orders from several Middle Eastern airlines. In all, those clients had placed firm orders for 246 planes.

If they exercise options for 50 additional planes, the entire order would be worth $50 billion. That’s equal to 53% of Boeing’s 2017 revenue of $93.4 billion. However, the company typically offers discounts to its major customers, so the value of those orders is somewhat lower.

In all, Boeing reported 763 commercial deliveries for 2017 and its order backlog stands at $488.0 billion.

Starting with the March 2018 payment, the company will raise its dividend by 20.4%. Investors will now receive $1.71 a share, up from $1.42. The new annual rate of $6.84 yields 2.3%.

Boeing has now repurchased $9.2 billion worth of its shares under its current $14 billion authorization. It will replace that plan with a new $18 billion authorization. That amount is equal to 9% of its $197.2 billion market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares). The company expects to complete those purchases over the next 24 to 30 months.

Boeing’s shares have jumped 107% in the past year. As a result, the stock now trades at 23.4 times its projected 2018 earnings of $14.00 a share. That’s a high p/e for a cyclical manufacturing stock.

Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: Boeing is a hold.

For our recent report on a Canadian stock with an international niche, read, Even NAFTA may not slow this Canadian growth stock.

For our views on an investment that often promises more than it can deliver, read What’s a Hedge Fund? It’s a type of investment that entails a lot of risk.