Honeywell raises full-year targets after profit beats on aerospace strength

[July 23, 2021]  (Reuters) -Honeywell International on Friday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecasts, helped by improving sales in its aerospace unit as air travel rebounds from a pandemic-prompted slowdown.

 A worker is seen building an aircraft engine at Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on September 6, 2016. Picture taken on September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Alwyn Scott/File Photo

The U.S. industrial conglomerate, which makes everything from aircraft engines to warehouse automation equipment, has seen its bottomline boost with rising domestic air traffic as well as increased investment in industrial automation due to explosive growth in e-commerce.

Honeywell said it now expects full-year sales to be between $34.6 billion and $35.2 billion, up from its prior forecast of $34.0 billion to $34.8 billion.

The company also raised its full-year profit forecast in the range of $7.95 to $8.10 per share, from $7.75 to $8 per share previously.

Sales in its aerospace unit, its biggest, rose 8.8% to $2.77 billion in the second quarter ended June 30.

Excluding items, Honeywell earned $2.02 per share above analysts' average estimate of $1.94, while net sales rose 17.8% to $8.81 billion in the quarter.

(Reporting by Ashwini Raj and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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