Honeywell's Profit Falls as Organic Sales Decline

By Austen Hufford 

Honeywell International Inc. issued the downbeat earnings report it had forecast earlier this month, saying an unexpectedly weak September and lackluster performance in the aerospace segment hurt profit.

Honeywell shares had dropped 7.5% on Oct. 7 after the company lowered its sales and profit outlooks and preannounced the third-quarter results.

Chief Executive Dave Cote told investors at the time that sales had "failed to materialize" in the third quarter. Friday, the company reported results largely in line with those forecasts.

For the year, Honeywell expects sales of $39.4 billion to $39.6 billion, with core organic sales, which excludes currency fluctuations and deals, falling between 1% and 2%. Analysts had expected $39.63 billion in sales.

During the quarter, the industrial conglomerate reported an overall profit of $1.24 billion, down from $1.26 billion. On a per-share basis, earnings were flat at $1.60. When excluding restructuring and other costs, earnings per share for the quarter were $1.67.

Revenue grew 2% to $9.8 billion as core organic sales fell 3%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings per share of $1.60 on $9.79 billion in sales.

In the company's aerospace segment, organic revenue and unadjusted revenue fell about 6% due to the impact of sales incentives, lower volumes in business and aviation, weakness in commercial helicopters and the completion of space and international defense programs.

For the fourth quarter, Honeywell expects sales to fall 7% to 9% due to weakness in the business jets, defense and space areas.

Revenue in its safety and productivity solutions unit fell 2.2%. Core sales dropped 8% due to lower volume associated with a completed U.S. Postal Service contract and lower volumes in its safety business.

Revenue in its performance materials and technologies unit grew 2.2% as core sales declined 3% due to declines in gas processing, licensing and engineering. During this quarter, the company expects sales to fall 4% to 5% while core sales are expected to increase 2% to 4% on stabilizing oil prices.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2016 07:58 ET (11:58 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.