Honeywell Affirms Profit Outlook For 2015

Honeywell Inc. on Wednesday reaffirmed its earnings outlook for the first quarter and full year, as well as its five-year organic sales target in a release published ahead of an analyst day in New York city. "We expect an additional dollar in EPS by 2018 from capital deployment, including M&A and share repurchases," Chief Executive Dave Cote said in the release. "While M&A is the priority, we will deploy net cash amounts in excess of $1-$2 billion for incremental share repurchase, and are committed to growing our dividend rate faster than earnings." The diversified aerospace and industrial company is still expecting first-quarter per-share earnings of $1.36 to $1.41, which wraps around the current FactSet consensus of $1.40. For the full year, the company is expecting EPS of $5.95 to $6.15, compared with a FactSet consensus of $6.09. Organic sales are expected to grow to $46 billion to $51 billion by 2020, with margins expected at 18.5% to 20.0%. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but have gained 4.8% in the last three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.7%.