Honeywell Aerospace posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit and revenue, lifted its full-year earnings outlook, and unveiled plans for a $500 million manufacturing facility in Tempe that's expected to create around 600 jobs. The Arizona-based aerospace supplier, which has only been trading as an independent public company since this past summer, reported adjusted profit of $2.21 per share for the quarter ended September 26 — well above the $1.86 per share analysts had expected.
Quarterly Results Beat Wall Street Estimates
Sales for the quarter came in at $4.64 billion, ahead of the $4.57 billion analysts had projected, according to Reuters, as published by the Sacramento Bee. On a reported basis, Honeywell Aerospace said sales of $4.6 billion were up 2% year over year on both a reported and organic basis, while adjusted EBIT reached $1.2 billion, up 1%. The company's backlog grew to $19.3 billion at quarter's end, a 12% jump from the prior year, and trailing-twelve-month orders rose 9%, led by its Defense and Space business.
Free cash flow for the quarter totaled $500 million, topping the nearly $428 million analysts had estimated using LSEG data, the Sacramento Bee reported. Shares of the company rose 5% after the bell following the results, per the same Reuters account. On the back of the strong quarter, Honeywell Aerospace raised the lower end of its second-half 2026 free-cash-flow forecast to $1.2 billion, up from $1 billion, while keeping the top end of the range at $1.4 billion, according to Investing.com.
New Arizona Plant Set to Open in 2028
The company also announced plans to build a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Tempe, Arizona, at a cost of $500 million, with an expected opening in late 2028. Per a company announcement distributed via PR Newswire, the facility is expected to create approximately 600 jobs and support more than 1,000 local construction jobs as it's built. Honeywell Aerospace is headquartered in Arizona, and the project adds to its manufacturing footprint there as it works to meet what the company described as growing commercial and defense demand.
Honeywell Aerospace raised its full-year 2026 standalone adjusted earnings-per-share forecast to a range of $7.85 to $8.00, up from its earlier forecast of $7.60 to $7.90, Investing.com reported. The company reiterated its organic sales-growth guidance of 4% to 5% for 2026, and the board declared an inaugural quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share, according to 247wallst.com.
Supplier Bottlenecks Still Weighing on Output
The results follow a rockier stretch for the newly independent company. The Sacramento Bee's Reuters report noted that Honeywell Aerospace had lowered its 2026 sales-growth forecast and issued a weaker-than-expected earnings outlook back in August, as supply-chain hurdles crimped its ability to meet surging aftermarket demand. Commercial Aftermarket sales rose 2% year over year to $2.1 billion in the third quarter, with the Honeywell Aerospace release attributing the modest growth to healthy underlying demand that was limited by mechanical-component availability.
The company has said constraints from a small number of mechanical suppliers are currently limiting output growth, even as management described 2026 as a transition period during which it is investing in suppliers, manufacturing capacity and workforce expansion to boost production. Per the Sacramento Bee's Reuters report, planemakers need more parts as they ramp up jet production, even as airlines face pressure from high fuel prices. The same report quoted Honeywell Aerospace's Jim Currier saying the company is seeing encouraging signs from suppliers that had held production back, and that progress and qualification of additional material sources position the company for higher sales and output growth in 2027 and beyond.
A First Full Quarter as a Standalone Company
The quarter marked Honeywell Aerospace's first full reporting period since it was spun off from Honeywell in a three-way split and debuted on Nasdaq under the ticker HONA in June 2026. Each Honeywell Technologies shareholder of record as of June 15, 2026, received one Honeywell Aerospace common share for every two Honeywell Technologies shares held, according to the company's own announcement of the spin-off.
Looking further ahead, the company has said it's targeting organic annual sales growth of 6% to 8% through 2030, along with annual earnings growth of 9%, as reported by CNBC. By 2030, the company is aiming for annual earnings of at least $6.5 billion and full-year free cash flow of at least $4 billion, CNBC reported. That report also noted that rival GE Aerospace's stock has climbed about 125% since it became a standalone company in April 2024, compared with almost 45% for the S&P 500 and almost 20% for Honeywell over the same stretch — a comparison that underscores the stakes for Honeywell Aerospace as it charts its own course as an independent aerospace supplier.
