United Technologies Raises Profit Outlook -- update

By Dave Sebastian 

United Technologies Corp. raised its profit outlook for the year as it recorded higher quarterly earnings and revenue.

For the full year, the Farmington, Conn., aerospace company now expects adjusted per-share earnings to be between $8.05 and $8.15, up from its previous outlook of $7.90 to $8.05. United Technologies narrowed its sales outlook to between $76 billion and $76.5 billion, compared with its prior guidance of $75.5 billion to $77 billion. It said it continues to expect organic sales to grow 4% to 5% for the full year.

Shares of United Technologies are up 1.1% in premarket trading Tuesday.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $2.21 a share in the third quarter, up 14.5% from the same quarter last year and surpassing the $2.03 a share analysts polled by FactSet had expected.

Net income totaled $1.15 billion, or $1.33 a share, compared with $1.24 billion, or $1.54 a share, in earnings a year earlier.

United Technologies said it incurred 73 cents per share of charges related to the separation of its Otis elevator and Carrier air-conditioner businesses.

Revenue for the quarter was $19.5 billion, up from $16.51 billion in the comparable quarter last year. Analysts were expecting $19.33 billion in sales. Sales in the Otis and Carrier businesses for the quarter were $3.3 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively.

Costs and expenses rose to $17.05 billion from $14.8 billion in the comparable quarter last year.

Shareholders earlier this month approved the $135 billion combination of United Technologies and Raytheon Co., which would create one of the world's largest aerospace companies. The companies expect the deal to close in the first half of 2020, subject to regulatory approval.

The Raytheon merger is the second piece of the industrial conglomerate's ambitious restructuring that will split it into three companies by the middle of next year. It closed its $23 billion acquisition of aircraft-parts maker Rockwell Collins almost a year ago, creating an aerospace division that will form the core of the new company after the Raytheon deal closes.

Raytheon Technologies, as the enlarged company will be known, aims to counter the challenges with the breadth of its offerings. Its Pratt & Whitney engines power Airbus jetliners, Lockheed Martin F-35 combat aircraft and the Boeing KC-46 tanker. Raytheon is focused on fast-growing areas such as hypersonic missiles and laser weapons and defenses.

The combined company would make everything from engines and seats for jetliners and F-35 jet fighters, to Patriot missile launchers and space suits for astronauts.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2019 07:48 ET (11:48 GMT)

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