On October 28, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA / PRNewswire / - Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) recently announced its performance in the third quarter, despite a decrease in revenue in a challenging operational environment, all indicators, including departmental profit margin and adjusted earnings per share, exceeded the company's guidance. The company also updated its annual sales, departmental profit margin, adjusted earnings per share, and cash flow guidance.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $9.7 billion, a 6% year-on-year increase, with organic sales up 3% year-on-year, with strong performance in the commercial aviation and smart building solutions business. Operating income decreased by 4%, operating margin decreased by 180 basis points to 19.1%, mainly due to impairments resulting from classifying the personal protective equipment (PPE) business as held for sale assets. Benefiting from the strong performance of the Aerospace Hi-Tech Holding Group and successful acquisitions in the security business, departmental profit increased by 6% year-on-year for the entire quarter, maintaining a 23.6% year-on-year growth in departmental profit margin, exceeding the upper limit of the guidance by 30 basis points. Earnings per share for the third quarter were $2.16, a 5% year-on-year decrease, adjusted earnings per share were $2.58, an 8% year-on-year increase, exceeding the upper limit of the company guidance. Operating cash flow was $2 billion, free cash flow was $1.7 billion, a 10% year-on-year increase.

In the past few months, Honeywell has taken several measures to further simplify and improve its business portfolio, including completing the acquisitions of Civitanavi, CAES Systems, and the Air Products Company's liquefied natural gas business. Earlier this month, the company also announced plans to spin off its high-performance materials business into an independent company, which will focus on sustainable specialty chemicals and materials supply.

"Honeywell had a challenging quarter in the third quarter, with both departmental profit margin and adjusted earnings per share exceeding the upper limit of the guidance." Honeywell Chairman and CEO Vimal Kapur said, "Our Accelerator Operating System and culture of execution enabled us to achieve a 6% growth in departmental profit despite facing headwinds in short-term sales. Even excluding the impact of deliveries from this quarter's acquisitions, we continue to see healthy order rates and ongoing growth in backlogs, giving us confidence in achieving our long-term objectives. We have also made significant progress in our capital deployment strategy, deploying $3.1 billion for mergers and acquisitions, dividends, and high-return capital expenditures."

Kevin Wall also stated:"This year, we have made significant progress in simplifying and improving Honeywell's business portfolio, announcing plans to spin off the high-performance materials business and exit the personal safety protective equipment business, and completing four strategic acquisitions. We are proud of the measures we have taken in 2024 to advance our key priorities, but we must continue to work hard. As we further integrate the business portfolio with the three major trends of automation, future aviation, and energy transformation, I hope to share more information in the future."

Based on the company's performance in the third quarter and management's outlook for the fourth quarter of this year, including the impact of recent acquisitions, Honeywell has updated its guidance range for full-year sales, segment margin, adjusted earnings per share, and cash flow. Full-year sales are expected to be $38.6 billion to $38.8 billion, with organic sales growth of 3% to 4%. Segment margin is expected to be between 23.4% and 23.5%, flat or down 10 basis points from last year. Adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $10.15 to $10.25, a year-over-year increase of 7% to 8%. Operating cash flow is expected to be $6.2 billion to $6.5 billion, with free cash flow expected to be between $5.1 billion and $5.4 billion.

Please click here to view detailed information on the company's performance in the third quarter of 2024.

About Honeywell

Honeywell is a Fortune Global 500 high-tech enterprise, with business revolving around three major development trends: automation, future aviation, and energy transformation. Relying on the Honeywell Accelerator Operation System and the Honeywell Connected Software Platform, the company provides a wide range of technology and services to multiple industries worldwide. As a trusted partner, Honeywell helps customers tackle challenging and complex global challenges through the Aerospace Hi-Tech Holding Group, Smart Industry Technology Group, Smart Building Technology Group, Energy and Sustainable Technology Group, offering practical and innovative solutions to make the world more intelligent, secure, reliable, and sustainable. In China, Honeywell implements the 'East Serves East' global strategy to drive business development through local innovation. Currently, all business groups of Honeywell are established in China, with Shanghai being the headquarters of Honeywell Asia Pacific. For more company information, please visit the Honeywell China website, or follow Honeywell's official Weibo and WeChat accounts.