Honeywell CEO is positive on aviation despite the Ukraine war

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Written on Mar 4, 2022

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Darius Adamczyk doesn't see the Ukraine war as much of a headwind for Honeywell's aviation business.
He says signs of improvement are showing in the semiconductor business amidst the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Honeywell will also benefit as geopolitical tensions push governments into expanding their defense budgets.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is evolving very quickly and it’s unclear for how long is it going to affect Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ: HON), says CEO Darius Adamczyk.

Honeywell CEO’s remarks on CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’

Analysts expect the aviation industry to take a direct hit from the Ukraine war. Still, CEO Adamczyk continues to be long-term positive on the company’s aviation business. On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”, he said:

The aviation business, at least temporarily, might be slightly impacted, but I think there’s a greater correlation to emergence from COVID. We expect flight rates to continue to pick up and that’ll be a negative, but overall, we’re seeing aviation continuing to gain momentum throughout the year.

Honeywell stock has come down about 3.0% within 48 hours in line with the broader risk-off as Russia took control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant.

Semiconductor is showing signs of improvement

The geopolitical backdrop has made governments expand on their budget commitments to defense, which could be a tailwind for Honeywell as it has significant hook in this space, added Adamczyk. He also sees signs of an uptick in the semiconductor business.

On the semiconductor side, we actually see some green shoots of improvement. So, we’ve seen some positive things happen and we’re more and more optimistic.

Also on Friday, CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos explained how the semiconductor space is somewhat insulated from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.