(Reuters) -Honeywell International reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecasts on Friday, helped by a rebound in demand in its main businesses that serve the aerospace and the energy industries.
The U.S. industrial conglomerate, which makes everything from aircraft engines to catalysts used in gasoline production, has seen its bottomline get a boost from rising domestic air traffic and higher demand for fuel as more people have started traveling following COVID-19 vaccinations.
"We are especially pleased to see a turnaround in several of our key end markets that were hardest hit by the pandemic, with commercial aerospace aftermarket and the UOP (energy) business returning to growth in the quarter," Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk said.
Sales in Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON)'s aerospace unit, its biggest, rose 8.8% to $2.77 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, while revenue in its performance materials and technologies business that serves the energy sector jumped 15% to $2.55 billion.
Honeywell is also benefiting from increased investment in automation as e-commerce companies look to speed up automation to take on the explosive growth in demand.
This lifted sales in the company's safety and productivity solutions business, which makes warehouse automation equipment and counts Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) among its customers, by 35% to $2.08 billion in the quarter.
Honeywell said it now expects full-year sales to be between $34.6 billion and $35.2 billion, up from its prior forecast of $34 billion to $34.8 billion.
The company also raised its profit forecast in the range of $7.95 to $8.10 per share, from $7.75 to $8 per share previously.
Excluding items, Honeywell earned $2.02 per share above analysts' average estimate of $1.94, while net sales rose 17.8% to $8.81 billion in the reported quarter.