Total sales declined 10% to $9.72 billion for Honeywell International (HON) in the fourth quarter, hurt by the impact of its recent spin-offs. However, the top line edged past Wall Street expectation of $9.69 billion.
Organic sales improved 6%, primarily driven by continued strength in commercial aerospace, US defense, and warehouse automation.
Earnings during the quarter increased to $1.91 per share from $1.89 per share in the same period last year. Analysts’ projection for Q4 bottom line was $1.88 per share.
HON shares popped 0.6% during pre-market trading on Friday. The stock has declined 9% in the past 12 months.
For full-year 2019, the manufacturing giant currently expects net sales in the range of $36-36.9 billion. EPS for this period is projected in the range of $7.80 – $8.10.
CEO Darius Adamczyk said, “We now have a simpler, more focused portfolio spread across six attractive end markets with approximately 60% of the portfolio growing sales at or above 5 percent organically for the full year.”
The Charlotte, North Carolina – based firm had completed its spinoff of Resideo Technologies, which comprises Homes and Global Distribution businesses, at the end of October. Earlier that month, it had also completed the spinoff of its Transportation business into a standalone entity named Garrett Motion.
With the spinoffs of both Garrett and Resideo now complete, Honeywell is better positioned to focus on areas like aerospace, which have high growth potential. The spinoffs are likely to be beneficial to the company in the long term as it would provide more flexibility in terms of capital allocation and other growth initiatives.