Industrials

Honeywell Earnings Are Good Despite Weak Comps

Chris Lange

Published: April 21, 2017 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 12:47 pm

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) reported its first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Friday. The company posted $1.66 in earnings per share (EPS) and $9.49 billion in revenue, versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $1.62 in EPS and revenue of $9.32 billion. In the same period of last year, Honeywell said it had EPS of $1.56 and $9.52 billion in revenue.

Overall sales for the first quarter were relatively flat on a reported basis, and up about 2% on an organic basis. The difference between these numbers is the result of the 2016 spin-off of the former Resins and Chemicals business in the Performance Materials segment.

In terms of its business segments Honeywell reported:

• Aerospace sales dropped 4% to $3.55 billion, with a profit of $796 million.
• Home and Building Technologies reported sales of $2.55 billion, up 3%, with a profit of $389 million.
• Performance Materials and Technologies sales fell 9% to 2.07 billion, with a profit of $471 million.
• Safety and Productivity Solutions had sales increase 25% to $1.32 billion, with a profit of $194 million.

As for outlook, the company anticipates that 2017 EPS will be $6.90 to $7.10, up 7% to 10%, excluding divestitures, any pension mark-to-market adjustments and 2016 debt refinancing charges. The consensus estimates are $7.04 in EPS and $39.17 billion in revenue for the 2017 full year.

On the books, Honeywell’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $9.6 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $9.4 billion at the end of December 2016.

Darius Adamczyk, president and CEO of Honeywell, commented:

Honeywell reported a strong start to 2017, with over 2 percent organic sales growth, 70 basis points of segment margin expansion, and free cash flow of nearly $800 million that was more than six times greater than 2016. Our strong operational performance resulted in reported earnings per share of $1.71. Normalizing for tax, earnings per share was $1.66, or 2 cents above the high-end of our first-quarter guidance and up 11 percent versus last year, excluding divestitures.

Shares of Honeywell closed Thursday up 0.8% at $123.77, with a consensus analyst price target of $134.53 and a 52-week trading range of $105.25 to $127.52. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was up 2.8% at $127.18 in early trading indications Friday.