Investing.com -- While Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) reported a 10% increase in earnings per share for the first quarter on Friday, the multinational conglomerate blamed a stronger dollar for a reduction in earnings.
Honeywell, a New Jersey-based, Fortune 100 company with more than 55,000 employees in the United States, reported sales of $9.213 billion for the first three months of the year. The figure, though, represented a 5% decline in sales from the same period a year earlier when the consumer products, engineering services and aerospace systems manufacturer posted sales of $9.679 billion. With more than 70,000 employees abroad, Honeywell indicated that its exposure to the euro played a significant role in the slower than expected earnings.
Honeywell still posted quarterly earnings per share of 1.41 for the period, above the 1.28 earnings per share it reported last year at this time.
"Honeywell had a good start to 2015 delivering double-digit earnings growth at the high end of our guidance range and experiencing improving momentum over the course of the quarter,” Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Honeywell Transportation Systems announced a deal to provide its variable-geometry diesel turbocharger technology to Volkswagen and Skoda for models in India. The smaller, turbocharged diesel vehicles deliver nearly 40 percent better fuel efficiency in comparison with similar powered vehicles in their class, Honeywell said in a release.
Honeywell has also raised its EPS forward guidance for the remainder of the year to a range of $6.00-$6.15, an increase of 8-11%.
"We’re able to raise our full-year earnings guidance and maintain our cash outlook while continuing to invest for the future in seed planting and additional repositioning because of new products and technologies, further penetration of High Growth Regions, conservative cost planning, and deployment of our key process initiatives as part of HOS Gold," Cote added. "We’re confident that our balanced portfolio mix of short- and long-cycle businesses is well-positioned to deliver on our 2015 commitments and our 2018 targets."