Morris Township, NJ, January 28--Honeywell International Inc. posted a 3 percent rise in quarterly profit and lifted its earnings outlook for 2005, buoyed by strong orders from its mainstay aerospace unit and hot demand for turbo chargers.
Honeywell, whose products range from anti-freeze to avionics, posted a fourth-quarter net profit of $419 million, or $0.49 a share, compared with $407 million, or $0.47 a shares, a year earlier.
That was in line with Wall Street estimates for 49 cents.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $6.64 billion, versus Wall Street's consensus estimate of $6.62 billion.
In the Specialty Materials unit, sales were up 9%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2003, as a result of continued growth in core businesses and improved pricing. Segment margins were 5.4%, compared with 4.7% a year ago, due to increases in price and core volume, partially offset by higher raw material costs in non-core businesses. The company said that Specialty Materials continued to execute on its portfolio repositioning, and completed the divestiture of its Performance Fibers business.
For 2005, Honeywell raised its forecast range for earnings per share by 5 cents to $1.95 to $2.05, excluding any impact from acquisitions. Analysts, on average, are forecasting $2.02 a share in 2005, according to Reuters Estimates.
Honeywell said the increased outlook reflected strong orders and a lower-than-expected pension expense.
During the quarter, Honeywell's aerospace unit, the company's biggest segment, won an order to provide exterior lighting for Boeing's 7E7 Dreamliner, the jet maker's first all-new plane in a decad
