Finishing Strong—for the Most Part

On 25 January 2023, Textron Inc.—the Providence, Rhode Island-based American conglomerate and parent company of Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Bell Helicopter, Lycoming Engines, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat snowmobiles, and Textron Systems—reported its fourth quarter 2022 earnings.

The report cited increased company income from continuing operations of $1.07 per-share—compared to 2021’s fourth quarter adjusted income from continuing operations of $0.93 or $0.94 per-share.

Textron set forth: “The 2023 outlook reflects higher revenues, increased profit, and operating margin expansion with a continuation of our growth strategy of ongoing investments in new products and programs to drive increases in long-term shareholder value”

Textron’s full-year 2022 income from continuing operations was $4.01 per share—up from $3.30 in 2021.

Textron Chairman and CEO Scott C. Donnelly remarked: “2022 was a strong year at Textron with solid revenue growth, order-flow and execution at Aviation, new program awards at Systems, higher revenues and operating profit at Industrial, and the contract award for the U.S. Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program at Bell.”

2022 full-year net cash generated by Textron’s manufacturing groups was $1.5-billion. Full-year manufacturing cash-flow before pension contributions totaled $1.2-billion—up $29-million from 2021.

In 2022’s fourth quarter, Textron returned $228-million to shareholders through share repurchases. Full-year 2022 share repurchases totaled $867-million.

For 2023, Textron will begin reporting earnings-per-share on an adjusted basis to exclude LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) inventory provision and intangible amortization expense, both non-cash items, effective per 2023’s first quarter financial results.

Textron forecasts 2023 revenues of approximately $14-billion—up from previous estimates of $12.9-billion—and expects full-year 2023 earnings per-share will be in the range of $4.40 to $4.60, or $5.00 to $5.20 on the adjusted basis described above.

Textron further estimates 2023 will see its manufacturing group generate net cash of between $1.3-billion and $1.4-billion, and cash-flow before pension contributions of approximately $0.9-billion and $1.0-billion, with planned pension contributions of $50-million.

Mr. Donnelly concluded: “The 2023 outlook reflects higher revenues, increased profit and operating margin expansion with a continuation of our growth strategy of ongoing investments in new products and programs to drive increases in long-term shareholder value.”

Textron Aviation posted Q4 2022 revenues of $1.6-billion—up $223 million from the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase was attributed largely to higher volumes of Citation jet and defense sales.

Textron Aviation delivered 52 jets in 2022’s fourth quarter, up an impressive 46 from last year, and 47 commercial turboprops—up from 43 in 2021.

Textron’s aviation segment profit was $169-million in the fourth quarter of 2022, up $32-million from Q4 2021.

Textron Aviation’s backlog at the end of fourth quarter 2022 was $6.4-billion.

Bell Q4 2022 revenues were $816-million, down $42-million from the previous year, reflecting lower military revenues primarily in the H-1 program due to lower aircraft and spares volume.

Bell delivered 71 commercial helicopters in Q4 2022, up from the 59 machines the division delivered in Q4 2021.

All told, Bell’s Q4 2022 profit of $71-million was down $17-million the same time period in 2021.

Bell’s backlog at the end of 2022’s fourth quarter was $4.8-billion.

Q4 2022 revenues at Textron Systems were $314-million, compared to $313 million in last year's fourth quarter. The division’s $40-million Q4 2022 profit was down $5-million from Q4 2021.

Textron Systems’ backlog at the end of 2022’s fourth quarter was $2.1 billion.

Textron’s Q4 2022 industrial revenues of $907-million were up a robust $126-million from 2021’s fourth quarter. The industrial segment’s $42-million Q4 profit bests Q4 2021 by $4-million.

Textron’s eAviation segment posted Q4 2022 revenues of $6-million—a loss of $10-million. The company attributed the less-than-stellar numbers to Pipistrel’s operating results, which included research and development costs for initiatives related to the development of sustainable aviation solutions.

Textron’s Finance segment posted Q4 2022 revenues of $11-million and a profit of $5-million.

FMI: www.textron.com