United Technologies Corp. sees profit increasing this year despite a stronger U.S. dollar, as the manufacturer prepares to boost its bet on the growing aviation market. The shares rose.

- Adjusted profit will be US$7.70 to US$8 a share this year, United Technologies said in a statement Wednesday. That compared with the US$7.78 average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales will be US$75.5 billion to US$77 billion, the company said.

Key Insights

- Fourth-quarter results and the 2019 forecast offered the first detailed look at the expanded United Technologies, incorporating Rockwell Collins in the aerospace operations, after the company closed the US$23 billion acquisition in November. Sales in the aircraft-parts unit rose 29 per cent in the final three months of last year.

- The growing aviation market also buoyed Pratt & Whitney, the jet-engine unit that is refining a turbine used on some Airbus SE planes. Sales climbed 24 per cent.

- The status of United Technologies’ plan to split itself up will be a focus of the conference call at 8:30 a.m. Investors will be looking for insight into the health of the elevator and climate-controls businesses as Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes prepares to break them off into stand-alone companies.

Market Reaction

- The shares jumped 4.7 per cent to US$116.23 in New York before regular trading. United Technologies fell 17 per cent last year, slightly worse than the 15 per cent drop in a Standard & Poor’s index of industrial companies.