Honeywell International (HON) posted better-than-expected second quarter earnings Thursday, while lifting its full-year sales forecast, thanks in part to impressive gain in the industrial group's commercial aerospace division.
Honeywell said adjusted earnings for the three months ending in June were pegged at $2.10 per share, up 4% from the same period last year and firmly ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $2.03 per share. Group revenues edged 1.6% higher to $8.953 billion, compared to analysts' forecasts of an $8.67 billion tally.
Looking into the current financial year, Honeywell said it sees revenues of between $35.4 billion and $36.4 billion, organic sales growth of between 5% and 7%, up from its prior forecast of between 4% and 7%, to a range of $35.5 billion to $36.1 billion. Honeywell's adjusted earnings was between $8.50 and $8.80 per share.
"While we recognize macro crosscurrents are clouding the global economic growth outlook, we remain confident in our demand outlook for the back half of the year with orders up 12% year over year and closing backlog of $29.5 billion, up 12% year over year, led by our long-cycle businesses, which will help drive growth for quarters to come," said CEO Darius Adamczyk.
"The continued recovery of our key commercial aviation, defense, energy, and non-residential end markets, our commercial excellence, and our technologically differentiated portfolio of solutions will allow us to capitalize on near-term growth opportunities and remain highly resilient amid ongoing uncertainties," he added.
Honeywell shares were marked 3.2% higher in early Thursday trading immediately following the earnings release to change hands at $189.46 each.
Honeywell also said it named Vimal Kapur, a three-decade company veteran, as its new chief operating officer, reporting directly to Adamczyk. Kapur will also keep his role as president and CEO of Honeywell PMT, the group's technology hub, until a successor is named.
Earlier this week, rival General Electric (GE) posted better-than-expected second quarter earnings powered in part by improving aviation industry demand.
Adjusted non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending in June were pegged at 78 cents per share while revenues rose 1.75% from last year to %18.6 billion, well ahead of analysts' estimates of a $17.6 billion tally.
GE Aerospace orders were up 26% to $6.9 billion, while overall revenues rose 27% to $6.13 billion.
GE confirmed its 2022 forecasts, which it first published in January and reiterated last month saying it expects adjusted earnings in the region of $2.80 to $3.50 per share for the full year -- albeit at the lower end -- while cutting around $1 billion from its free cash flow forecast, taking the unofficial figure to between $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion.
