United Technologies Among The Few Industrial Companies That Impressed Investors

The list of industrial companies that shocked and disappointed the Street is quite notable. Honeywell International Inc. HON provided a downbeat forecast in early October, Dover Corp DOV similarly guided its earnings to fall short of estimates.

General Electric Company GE's investors are sitting back and watching the stock underperform the broader market.

According to Gadfly's Brooke Sutherland, there is one standout among the industrial companies: United Technologies Corporation UTX. In fact, all the company had to do was present an earnings report that didn't give investors any more bad news.

Sutherland noted that not only did United Technologies not deliver any bad news, its earnings report on Tuesday was better-than-expected. Furthermore, the company boosted its full-year outlook for profit and organic sales higher by at least 2 percent.

On the same day United Technologies "got its mojo back," Caterpillar Inc. CAT and 3M Co MMM joined the growing list of industrial companies "with darkened views on 2016."

United Technologies' earnings were boosted by strength in its Pratt & Whitney division, which finally put its new geared turbofan jet engine into service. Revenue at Pratt & Whitney soared 13 percent in the quarter on an organic basis and its order book stood at 8,400 engines.

But this doesn't mean investors should be scrambling to buy shares of the Dow component. Specifically, prior delays in Pratt & Whitney's new jet engine seen in prior quarters could haunt the segment in the future and a ramp-up in production of the new jet engine implies a ramp-up in spending.

Nevertheless, Sutherland suggested that investors can now be more confident that United Technologies is heading in the right direction, and the earnings report on Tuesday rebuilds the company's credibility.