Honeywell Q3 earnings beat estimates

Honeywell International reported better-than-expected earnings as sales rose in the third quarter.

Earnings per share was flat at $1.60 while net income came in at $1.24bn, down slightly from the same period a year earlier at $1.26bn.

Sales for the quarter were up 2% to $9.8bn compared to $9.6bn the previous year.

Chief executive officer Dave Cote said: “We are well-positioned for double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter, leading to 8%-9% earnings growth in 2016.

“Moving ahead, we are targeting low single-digit core organic sales growth, continued segment margin improvement, and a double-digit increase in EPS in 2017.”

Honeywell funded around £250m in restructuring and other actions from a $0.07 increase in first and second-quarter EPS caused by an accounting standard adoption and the $0.14 gain related to the sales of its government services business.

It said on Friday that these actions will drive more than $175m of benefits in 2017 alone.

The group also plans in the fourth quarter to refinance outstanding debt maturing in 2017-2019, which will lower interest expense by around $60m annually from next year.

Honeywell reiterated its 2016 full-year sales guidance of between $39.4bn and $39.6bn, which would be a 2% to 3% gain versus 2015. It expects EPS of $6.60 to $6.64, which would be a 8% to 9% increase from last year.