Were Those Earnings Really That Good?
Investors are emphasizing the positives, but there's plenty of fresh evidence of a slowdown in results from United Technologies and other industrial companies.
The outlook for industrial companies is anything but clear.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North AmericaGood news comes with baggage for industrial companies this earnings season. United Technologies Corp., Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and Sherwin-Williams Co. all reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings per share on Tuesday, but each company also gave investors new data points to worry about.
For United Technologies, it was the fact that its aerospace businesses seem to be the only thing driving its improved outlook for sales and earnings in 2019. New equipment orders dropped 12% at Carrier in the period and 6% at the Otis elevator division, echoing reports of damped enthusiasm from industrial distributor Fastenal Co. and indications of an overall stagnation in new U.S. factory orders in June from the Institute for Supply Management. Stanley and Sherwin-Williams both left their full-year adjusted profit guidance unchanged despite notable beats in the second quarter, suggesting a cautious outlook on the rest of the year. Indeed, Stanley modestly reduced its expectation for volume growth amid a weaker outlook for industrial and emerging markets. Sherwin-Williams now expects overall revenue to increase only as much as 4% in 2019, down from an April projection of as much as 7%. Both companies think they can make up ground via price increases, but such sales weakness is troubling because Stanley and Sherwin-Williams can also be good proxies for the housing market and consumer demand.