HON Honeywell International Inc

By Kimberly Chin 

Honeywell International Inc. swung to a profit in the fourth quarter as the industrial conglomerate continued to see strong demand in its U.S. defense, warehouse automation and aerospace businesses.

Honeywell's posted a profit of $1.72 billion, or $2.31 a share, compared with a loss of $2.51 billion, or $3.32 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.91 a share.

Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected earnings of $1.86 a share and adjusted earnings of $1.89 a share.

Honeywell reported sales increases in most of its segments with safety and productivity solutions leading the way. The segment sales rose 15% on an organic basis driven by double-digit growth in its warehouse automation business.

Organic sales rose 6%. Overall, net sales fell 10% to $9.73 billion from the year-earlier period, in line with analysts' estimates. The company said the decline was due to the shedding of its transportation and home technology segments.

For the full-year 2019, Honeywell expects earnings of $7.80 to $8.10 a share excluding items related to the spinoffs. It forecasts sales between $36 billion and $36.9 billion and organic sales are projected to grow by 2% to 5%.

Shares of Honeywell, which have fallen 2.5% in the past 12 months, were flat in premarket trading on low volume.

Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2019 07:35 ET (12:35 GMT)

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