NEW YORK – United Technologies Corp. (UTX) on Tuesday said quarterly net profit rose 2 percent on improved results across all six divisions, but results were reduced by a change in accounting methods.
Net earnings rose to $626 million, or 62 cents a share, from $612 million, or 61 cents per share, a year earlier.
The net results included a charge of $95 million, or 9 cents a share for changes in accounting rules. Without the charge, results met analysts' average forecasts of 71 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Sales rose 14 percent to $11.3 billion, compared with forecasts of $11.2 billion. Organic growth added 9 points to the sales increase, while recent acquisitions accounted for the rest.
Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies, whose brands include Otis elevators, Pratt & Whitney engines, and Sikorsky helicopters, also reaffirmed its 2006 profit forecast, which targets earnings per share between $3.40 and $3.55. Analysts on average expect a profit of $3.52 a share.
"We had an exceptional year in 2005 and see more of the same in 2006," Chief Executive said George David in a statement.
The company also estimated it would spend $1.5 billion on its stock buyback program during the year.
Each of the company's six divisions delivered double-digit increases in operating profit, the company said. Profit more than doubled at the Fire and Safety business, which last year absorbed Kidde Plc and Lenel Systems. Sales jumped 55 percent in that division.
Carrier, the company's biggest division by revenue, reported a 12-percent sales increase, to $3.0 billion. Operating profit rose 70 percent in the division, which makes heating and cooling systems.
Shares of United Technologies, which closed Monday at $54.47, have gained 9 percent over the past 52 weeks, outperforming both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index.
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