Topic: Growth Stocks

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $94

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $94 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 836.4 million; Market cap: $78.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.utc.com) jumped $5 on news that rival Honeywell International (New York symbol HON) seeks to merge the two firms.

Anti-trust regulators are unlikely to approve such a merger: the combined company would dominate several markets, including aerospace products (such as jet engines and landing gear) and building equipment (elevators, thermostats).

Meanwhile, United Technologies earned $5.6 billion in 2015. That’s down 5.5% from $5.9 billion in 2014. The company used the $9.1 billion it received from last year’s sale of its Sikorsky helicopter operations to buy back $10.0 billion of its shares. As a result, its per-share earnings fell just 2.5%, to $6.30 from $6.46. If you factor out exchange rates, per-share earnings gained 0.5% to $6.49.

Sales in 2015 fell 2.5%, to $56.5 billion from $57.9 billion. Without exchange rates, sales rose 1%.

For 2016, United Technologies expects to earn between $6.30 and $6.60 a share. The stock trades at a moderate 14.6 times the midpoint of that range. The $2.56 dividend yields 2.7%.

United Technologies is a buy.

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