UPDATE: Credit Suisse Reiterates Neutral Rating, Raises PT on Honeywell International Following Q1 Earnings

In a report published Monday, Credit Suisse analyst Julian Mitchell reiterated a Neutral rating on Honeywell International HON, and raised the price target from $71.00 to $73.00. In the report, Mitchell noted, “Following Q1 earnings, our EPS estimates move up slightly for HON, and our TP is now $73 (from $71). We are raising our 2013/2014/2015 EPS estimates to $4.95/$5.55/$5.89 (from $4.94/$5.42/$5.82) respectively. Although repositioning costs fell substantially in 2012, HON's Q1 performance (EBIT up 10% y-o-y despite flat sales) underlines the substantial pay-back that the company is managing to achieve from its cost-out activities. It was also encouraging to see that in Q1, net repositioning costs were up y-o-y, at $128m (from $122m), suggesting that operational leverage should be substantial when organic sales growth reaccelerates (although in the 2H13 this will be masked slightly by the margin dilutive effects from the integration of the Intermec acquisition in late Q2).” Honeywell International closed on Friday at $74.18.