Honeywell spinoffs still have appeal

Article Excerpt

Honeywell International Inc. (New York symbol HON) recently spun off two of its smaller operations—Garrett Motion and Resideo Technologies. Both stocks are down since they become independent firms. Slow starts, however, are typical for new spinoffs, and we like their prospect. GARRETT MOTION INC. $15 (New York symbol GTX; Shares outstanding: 74.0 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.garrettmotion.com) makes turbochargers for car and truck engines. Major customers include Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, BMW, Citroen and Hyundai. On October 1, 2018, Honeywell investors received one Garrett share for every 10 shares they held. Garrett’s sales rose 9.0%, to $3.38 billion in 2018 from $3.10 billion in 2017. If you exclude favourable foreign exchange rates, sales rose 6%. Most that gain is due to the launch of new products for gasoline-powered cars. If you factor out unusual items, earnings improved 4.1%, to $4.05 a share from $3.89. The company spent $128 million (or 3.8% of sales) on research in 2018. That’s up 7.6% from $119…