HONEYWELL REPORTS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS; UPDATES 2025 GUIDANCE
HONEYWELL REPORTS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS; UPDATES 2025 GUIDANCE |
[29-April-2025] |
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) today announced results for the first quarter that exceeded the company's guidance on all metrics. The company also maintained its full-year organic growth guidance, raised its adjusted earnings per share guidance range, and reiterated its free cash flow guidance range. The company reported first-quarter year-over-year sales growth of 8% and organic1 sales growth of 4%, led by a second consecutive quarter of double-digit organic sales growth in both defense and space and building solutions. Operating margin contracted 30 basis points to 20.1% and segment margin1 was flat at 23.0%, exceeding previous guidance. Operating income increased 6% and segment profit1 increased 8% to $2.3 billion, driven by contribution from acquisitions and a continued focus on commercial excellence. Earnings per share for the first quarter was $2.22, flat year over year, and adjusted earnings per share1 was $2.51, up 7% year over year. Operating cash flow was $0.6 billion and free cash flow1 was $0.3 billion, up 61% year over year. "Honeywell started the year off exceptionally well, exceeding guidance across all metrics, led by solid organic growth," said Vimal Kapur, chairman and chief executive officer of Honeywell. "For the third straight quarter, we delivered both sequential and year-over-year backlog growth, driven by healthy order rates and continuing customer demand for our differentiated offerings. Despite the volatile macroeconomic backdrop, we maintained segment margin consistent with last year, which is a testament to the value delivered by our Accelerator operating system. Though we have not yet seen it in our results, we recognize we face an uncertain global demand environment for the remainder of 2025, and our company will work tirelessly, leveraging all tools available to us, to deliver for customers and shareholders." Kapur added, "As we look ahead to our planned spin of Advanced Materials and separation of our Automation and Aerospace businesses, we are even more confident about the significant opportunities for value creation and sustained growth as we transform into three industry-leading public companies." As a result of the company's first-quarter performance and management's outlook for the remainder of the year, Honeywell updated its full-year sales, segment margin2, and adjusted earnings per share2,3 guidance. Full-year sales are now expected to be $39.6 billion to $40.5 billion with organic1 sales growth in the range of 2% to 5%. Segment margin2 is expected to be in the range of 23.2% to 23.5%, with segment margin2 expansion of 60 to 90 basis points year over year. Adjusted earnings per share2,3 is now expected to be in the range of $10.20 to $10.50, up 5 cents at the midpoint from the prior guidance range. Operating cash flow is still expected to be in the range of $6.7 billion to $7.1 billion. Free cash flow1 is still expected to be in the range of $5.4 billion to $5.8 billion. Excluding the impact of the Bombardier agreement signed in the fourth quarter of 2024, the company expects organic sales growth of 1% to 4%, segment margin down 10 to up 20 basis points year over year, and adjusted earnings per share down 1% to up 2% year over year. Guidance incorporates the net expected impact of current tariffs, mitigation actions, and global demand uncertainty. Guidance also assumes an early May close of the sale of the company's Personal Protective Equipment business but does not yet include the impact of the pending Sundyne acquisition. A summary of the company's full-year guidance changes can be found in Table 1. Portfolio Transformation During the quarter, Honeywell continued its judicious deployment of shareholder capital, highlighted by the announcement of its acquisition of Sundyne in March for $2.2 billion. Honeywell also repurchased $1.9 billion of its shares in the quarter, furthering its commitment to deploy at least $25 billion toward high-return capital expenditures, dividends, opportunistic share purchases, and accretive acquisitions through 2025. First-Quarter Performance Aerospace Technologies sales for the first quarter increased 9% organically1 year over year, driven by continued strong performance in commercial aftermarket and defense and space. Commercial aftermarket sales grew 15%, led by increased demand in air transport and better output from supply chain improvements. Defense and space sales increased 10% on an organic basis, aided by ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. Backlog grew 9% as orders were up high-single digits in the quarter. Segment margin contracted 190 basis points to 26.3% on account of expected mix pressure and the impact of acquisitions, partially offset by productivity actions. Industrial Automation sales declined 2% on an organic1 basis year over year in the first quarter. Warehouse and workflow solutions returned to growth in the quarter, increasing 5%. Process solutions was flat year over year, as high single-digit growth in lifecycle solutions was offset by modest declines in smart energy and thermal solutions. Productivity solutions and services declined 1% when excluding the impact of prior-year license and settlement payments, driven by demand headwinds in Europe. Sensing and safety technologies decreased 5% year over year, as weaker volumes in our personal protective equipment business more than offset continued recovery in sensing, which delivered a second consecutive quarter of sales growth and high-single-digit orders growth. Segment margin contracted 130 basis points to 17.8%, driven by receivables write-downs and volume deleverage, partially offset by productivity actions. Building Automation sales for the first quarter increased 8% on an organic1 basis year over year. Building solutions grew 11% organically for a second consecutive quarter, led by strength in the Middle East and North America. Building products grew 6% organically, highlighted by double-digit growth in fire products and the fourth consecutive quarter of organic growth in security offerings. Orders grew both year over year and sequentially, led by double-digit growth in projects. Segment margin expanded 150 basis points to 26.0%, driven by volume leverage and productivity actions, partially offset by mix. Energy and Sustainability Solutions sales for the first quarter declined 2% on an organic1 basis. UOP grew 2% in the quarter led by strength in both refining and petrochemicals projects and sustainability projects. Advanced materials sales declined 4% as strength in specialty chemicals and materials was offset by challenging prior year comparisons in fluorine products. However, double-digit order growth in fluorine products led to a 7% increase in advanced materials orders year over year. Segment margin expanded 230 basis points to 22.2% as a result of commercial excellence, productivity actions, and the year-over-year benefit of the margin-accretive LNG acquisition. Conference Call Details
During the third quarter of 2024, Honeywell concluded the assets and liabilities of the personal protective equipment business (part of the Sensing and Safety Technologies business unit within the Industrial Automation segment) met the held for sale criteria; therefore, Honeywell presented the associated assets and liabilities of the business as held for sale in the Consolidated Balance Sheet beginning September 30, 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the Company recognized a $15 million increase in the valuation allowance to write down the disposal group to fair value, less costs to sell. About Honeywell Honeywell uses our Investor Relations website, www.honeywell.com/investor, as a means of disclosing information which may be of interest or material to our investors and for complying with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor our Investor Relations website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, webcasts, and social media. We describe many of the trends and other factors that drive our business and future results in this release. Such discussions contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), including statements related to the proposed spin-off of the Company's Advanced Materials business into Solstice Advanced Materials, a standalone, publicly traded company, the proposed separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies, the sale of the personal protective equipment business, and the acquisition of Sundyne. Forward-looking statements are those that address activities, events, or developments that management intends, expects, projects, believes, or anticipates will or may occur in the future. They are based on management's assumptions and assessments in light of past experience and trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments, and other relevant factors, many of which are difficult to predict and outside of our control, including Honeywell's current expectations, estimates, and projections regarding, among other things, the proposed spin-off of the Company's Advanced Materials business into Solstice Advanced Materials, a standalone, publicly traded company, the proposed separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies, the sale of the personal protective equipment business, and the acquisition of Sundyne. They are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments, and business decisions may differ significantly from those envisaged by our forward-looking statements, including the consummation of the spin-off of the Advanced Materials business into Solstice Advanced Materials, the proposed separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies, the sale of our personal protective equipment business, and the acquisition of Sundyne, and the anticipated benefits of each. We do not undertake to update or revise any of our forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to material risks and uncertainties, including ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical risks, such as the impacts of tariffs and other trade barriers and restrictions, lower GDP growth or recession in the U.S. or globally, supply chain disruptions, capital markets volatility, inflation, and certain regional conflicts, which can affect our performance in both the near- and long-term. In addition, no assurance can be given that any plan, initiative, projection, goal, commitment, expectation, or prospect set forth in this release can or will be achieved. These forward-looking statements should be considered in light of the information included in this release, our Form 10-K, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking plans described herein are not final and may be modified or abandoned at any time. This release contains financial measures presented on a non-GAAP basis. Honeywell's non-GAAP financial measures used in this release are as follows:
Management believes that, when considered together with reported amounts, these measures are useful to investors and management in understanding our ongoing operations and in the analysis of ongoing operating trends. These measures should be considered in addition to, and not as replacements for, the most comparable GAAP measure. Certain measures presented on a non-GAAP basis represent the impact of adjusting items net of tax. The tax-effect for adjusting items is determined individually and on a case-by-case basis. Refer to the Appendix attached to this release for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.
Appendix Non-GAAP Financial Measures The following information provides definitions and reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release to which this reconciliation is attached to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Management believes that, when considered together with reported amounts, these measures are useful to investors and management in understanding our ongoing operations and in the analysis of ongoing operating trends. Management believes the change to adjust for amortization of acquisition-related intangibles and certain acquisition- and divestiture-related costs provides investors with a more meaningful measure of its performance period to period, aligns the measure to how management will evaluate performance internally, and makes it easier for investors to compare our performance to peers. These measures should be considered in addition to, and not as replacements for, the most comparable GAAP measure. Certain measures presented on a non-GAAP basis represent the impact of adjusting items net of tax. The tax-effect for adjusting items is determined individually and on a case-by-case basis. Other companies may calculate these non-GAAP measures differently, limiting the usefulness of these measures for comparative purposes. Management does not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitations of these non-GAAP financial measures are that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recognized in the consolidated financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. Investors are urged to review the reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate Honeywell's business.
We define organic sales percentage as the year-over-year change in reported sales relative to the comparable period, excluding the impact on sales from foreign currency translation and acquisitions, net of divestitures, for the first 12 months following the transaction date. We believe this measure is useful to investors and management in understanding our ongoing operations and in analysis of ongoing operating trends. A quantitative reconciliation of reported sales percent change to organic sales percent change has not been provided for the forward-looking measure of organic sales percent change because management cannot reliably predict or estimate, without unreasonable effort, the fluctuations in global currency markets that impact foreign currency translation, nor is it reasonable for management to predict the timing, occurrence and impact of acquisition and divestiture transactions, all of which could significantly impact our reported sales percent change.
We define operating income as net sales less total cost of products and services sold, research and development expenses, impairment of assets held for sale, and selling, general and administrative expenses. We define segment profit, on an overall Honeywell basis, as operating income, excluding stock compensation expense, pension and other postretirement service costs, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles, certain acquisition- and divestiture-related costs and impairments, and repositioning and other charges. We define segment profit margin, on an overall Honeywell basis, as segment profit divided by net sales. We believe these measures are useful to investors and management in understanding our ongoing operations and in analysis of ongoing operating trends. A quantitative reconciliation of operating income to segment profit, on an overall Honeywell basis, has not been provided for all forward-looking measures of segment profit and segment profit margin included herein. Management cannot reliably predict or estimate, without unreasonable effort, the impact and timing on future operating results arising from items excluded from segment profit, particularly pension mark-to-market expense as it is dependent on macroeconomic factors, such as interest rates and the return generated on invested pension plan assets. The information that is unavailable to provide a quantitative reconciliation could have a significant impact on our reported financial results. To the extent quantitative information becomes available without unreasonable effort in the future, and closer to the period to which the forward-looking measures pertain, a reconciliation of operating income to segment profit will be included within future filings. Acquisition amortization and acquisition- and divestiture-related costs are significantly impacted by the timing, size, and number of acquisitions or divestitures we complete and are not on a predictable cycle and we make no comment as to when or whether any future acquisitions or divestitures may occur. We believe excluding these costs provides investors with a more meaningful comparison of operating performance over time and with both acquisitive and other peer companies.
We define adjusted earnings per share as diluted earnings per share adjusted to exclude various charges as listed above. We believe adjusted earnings per share is a measure that is useful to investors and management in understanding our ongoing operations and in analysis of ongoing operating trends. For forward-looking information, management cannot reliably predict or estimate, without unreasonable effort, the pension mark-to-market expense or the divestiture-related costs. The pension mark-to-market expense is dependent on macroeconomic factors, such as interest rates and the return generated on invested pension plan assets. The divestiture-related costs are subject to detailed development and execution of separation restructuring plans for the announced separation of Automation and Aerospace Technologies. We therefore do not include an estimate for the pension mark-to-market expense or divestiture-related costs. Based on economic and industry conditions, future developments, and other relevant factors, these assumptions are subject to change. Acquisition amortization and acquisition- and divestiture-related costs are significantly impacted by the timing, size, and number of acquisitions or divestitures we complete and are not on a predictable cycle and we make no comment as to when or whether any future acquisitions or divestitures may occur. We believe excluding these costs provides investors with a more meaningful comparison of operating performance over time and with both acquisitive and other peer companies.
We define free cash flow as cash provided by operating activities less cash for capital expenditures. We believe that free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure that is useful to investors and management as a measure of cash generated by operations that will be used to repay scheduled debt maturities and can be used to invest in future growth through new business development activities or acquisitions, pay dividends, repurchase stock, or repay debt obligations prior to their maturities. This measure can also be used to evaluate our ability to generate cash flow from operations and the impact that this cash flow has on our liquidity.
We define free cash flow as cash provided by operating activities less cash for capital expenditures. We believe that free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure that is useful to investors and management as a measure of cash generated by operations that will be used to repay scheduled debt maturities and can be used to invest in future growth through new business development activities or acquisitions, pay dividends, repurchase stock, or repay debt obligations prior to their maturities. This measure can also be used to evaluate our ability to generate cash flow from operations and the impact that this cash flow has on our liquidity.
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Company Codes: NASDAQ-NMS:HON |