Honeywell splitting into three companies

Honeywell

is splitting into three independently listed companies, breaking up one of America’s last standing conglomerates just months after activist investor Elliott Management took a $5 billion stake in the industrial giant.

Honeywell shares fell nearly 4% after the company forecast downbeat 2025 results and some experts suggested gains from the separation could take time to materialize.

The company said on Thursday it would separate its aerospace and automation businesses into separate entities, alongside its previously announced spin-off of the advanced materials unit.

With Honeywell’s decision, the ranks of the nation’s leading industrial conglomerates have dwindled even further, following similar choices in recent years by 3M

, General Electric

and United Technologies

to split off major divisions.

Tony Bancroft, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds which holds Honeywell’s shares, said the aerospace and automation businesses could be valued at $104 billion and $94 billion, respectively, but cautioned it could take time for the market to realize the value.

“We continue to believe the [Honeywell] separation makes strategic sense, however, we note that our sum-of-the-parts valuation points to little near-term upside,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Deane Dray wrote in a note.

RBC Capital Markets data shows a group of 12 industrial spin-offs gained about 50% in the year following their respective separations, outperforming the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund

by nearly 27%.

More broadly, evidence of the upside from spin-offs is mixed. Invesco’s Spin-off ETF

, a fund that tracks S&P 500 companies that have spun out from larger corporations, has trailed the market over the last decade.

Eric Martel, CEO of business jet maker Bombardier

, told reporters on Thursday he is very pleased with Honeywell’s announcement which he sees as a positive.

“I think having more focus is never a bad thing,” he said about the aerospace division, which he added has become very significant.

Honeywell last year reached an agreement to provide its avionics, propulsion and satellite communication technologies for Bombardier’s aircraft.

The industrial and aerospace giant has been on a deal-making spree under CEO Vimal Kapur, shedding assets that are not focused on the aviation, automation and energy sectors.

Despite several smaller moves, Elliott, whose stake in Honeywell is its largest single investment, argued the company needed to split.

Honeywell attracted the activist investor’s attention as its stock price underperformed the market. Its shares had risen 7.7% in 2024 until Nov. 11, a day before Elliott disclosed its position, while the broader market had gained 26.6% in the same period.

Elliott’s push is not the first time Honeywell has faced activist pressure to break up the company. In 2017, it managed to shrug off Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, which urged the company to spin off its aerospace division.

Analysts had previously estimated Honeywell’s high-margin aerospace business to be worth between $90 billion and $120 billion, including debt.

The aerospace unit is Honeywell’s biggest revenue generator, accounting for about 40% of the company’s total revenue in 2024, and counts Boeing BA.N and Airbus AIR.PA among its customers.

The company said it intends to complete the separation in the second half of 2026, which would be tax-free to its shareholders.

Honeywell, however, has been grappling with sluggish demand in its industrial automation segment - which helps factories and warehouses mechanize their operations - as a pandemic-driven boom in e-commerce moderates.

It forecast an adjusted profit per share of between $10.10 and $10.50 for 2025, falling short of analysts’ average estimate of $10.93 according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company’s sales expectations of between $39.6 billion and $40.6 billion for the year also fell short of Wall Street expectations of $41.22 billion.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/honeywell-to-split-into-three-companies-after-pressure-from-activist-investor-.html

Eli Lilly will be first Big Pharma company to hit $1 trillion market cap

Eli Lilly on Thursday reported mixed results for the fourth quarter, even as demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro soared.

The company’s quarterly earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but sales fell just short as Mounjaro saw lower realized prices. Zepbound and Mounjaro have now underperformed expectations for two straight quarters, with the company previously pointing to issues around inventory decreases among wholesalers.

The pharmaceutical giant also issued fiscal 2025 profit guidance of $22.05 to $23.55 per share, which is in line with what analysts were expecting. Eli Lilly reiterated its fiscal 2025 sales guidance of $58 billion to $61 billion, noting that it expects to launch Mounjaro in new international markets throughout the year.

Eli Lilly expects to see “a continuation of basically the total prescription growth that we have seen in 2024” for incretin drugs such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, “so that’s what we built in our 2025 guidance for the market,” the company’s CFO Lucas Montarce said during an earnings call on Thursday.

Shares of Eli Lilly rose more than 4% on Thursday.

The figures were consistent with the preliminary results Eli Lilly shared in January, which disappointed investors. Eli Lilly had slashed its 2024 revenue guidance, as it said demand for its weight loss and diabetes drugs would not meet its lofty expectations.

Notably, Eli Lilly said it plans to report late-stage data on its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide later this year, a few months earlier than expected. Retatrutide works differently from any of the treatments on the market, mimicking three different hunger-regulating hormones: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon.

Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $5.32 adjusted vs. $4.95 expected

Revenue: $13.53 billion vs. $13.57 billion expected

The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $13.53 billion, up 45% from the same period a year ago.

The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $4.41 billion, or $4.88 per share, for the fourth quarter. That compares with a profit of $2.19 billion, or $2.42 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $5.32 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Mounjaro posted $3.53 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, up 60% from the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected the drug to book $3.62 billion in sales for the quarter, according to StreetAccount.

Eli Lilly said the increase reflects strong demand and increased supply of Mounjaro, but was partially offset by lower realized prices due to “favorable changes” in the fourth quarter of 2023 to estimates for rebates and discounts.

Meanwhile, the results cap Zepbound’s first full year on the U.S. market. The weekly injection raked in $1.91 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, which is below the $1.98 billion that analysts expected, according to StreetAccount.

Montarce said Zepbound became the market leader in the obesity market in the fourth quarter, as measured by new prescriptions.

But demand in the U.S. has still far outpaced supply for Eli Lilly’s incretin drugs, such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, over the last year. Both treatments mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar.

The popularity of those injectable drugs has forced both Eli Lilly and its rival Novo Nordisk

to invest billions to ramp up manufacturing capacity for their treatments. The efforts appear to be paying off: The Food and Drug Administration in December reaffirmed its decision to declare the U.S. shortage of tirzepatide — the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro — over.

Eli Lilly on Thursday estimated that it will produce at least 1.6 times the amount of incretin doses in the first half of 2025 compared with the first half of 2024.

Sales of Eli Lilly’s older diabetes drugs topped estimates for the fourth quarter. Jardiance raked in $1.20 billion in revenue for the period, up 50% from the year-earlier quarter. Analysts expected sales of $901.5 million, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.

That growth includes a one-time benefit of $300 million due to an amendment to Eli Lilly’s collaboration with its Jardiance partner Boehringer Ingelheim.

The results also kick off a critical year for Eli Lilly, which is slated to release closely watched clinical trial data on its experimental obesity pill, orforglipron. Those results are expected by the middle of the year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/eli-lilly-lly-earnings-q4-2024.html

A Japan Airlines jet has collided with parked Delta jet at Seattle Tacoma International Airport

https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1887235225576468956

DOGE to make ‘rapid safety upgrades’ in air traffic control system

Elon Musk has pledged to deploy his "DOGE" cost-cutting squad inside the innards of America's air traffic control system, promising Wednesday to "make rapid safety upgrades" to the complex web of software, hardware, facilities and people that keep planes from crashing into each other.

"With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system," Musk posted to his social media platform X. Musk's comment came shortly after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted that he'd spoken to DOGE and that the squad plans to "plug in" to the air traffic control system to help make unspecified upgrades to unknown systems.

The rapid-fire set of remarks, following on the heels of a speech Duffy gave before a conference of state DOT officials on Wednesday, comes roughly a week after the worst U.S. airline crash in two decades, with investigators still in the early stages of their probe. On Wednesday the last of the crash victims were identified, and salvage of the passenger airplane and the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that hit it are ongoing.

Details about what role Musk and his employees might play in changing the air traffic control system — or even what parts of the system are under their microscope — are murky. But Musk's social media post referenced problems the agency has had with a system of notifying pilots about hazards, called "notice to air missions" (NOTAMs). The system went down over the weekend, though a backup system kicked in to ensure there were no major disruptions.

"Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!" Musk wrote on X in his earlier post.

Neither the Transportation Department nor the White House answered requests for more details.

Early sentiment on Capitol Hill about Musk rooting through the air traffic control system hewed mostly to partisan lines.

“I haven’t thought about it,” said Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.), who sits on the House Transportation Committee. “We’re probably 15 years behind in technology at [the] FAA in terms of what’s used by air traffic controllers and everything else. He may be the very perfect person. He’s got experience.”

Added Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.): “I don’t see an issue with it.”

Some Democrats, meanwhile, expressed serious alarm about Musk’s plan.

“I think it’s petrifying to the American people, especially after we just suffered another horrific tragedy here in Washington, D.C.,” Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.) said. “Now is not the time to put someone with zero experience in dealing with our national air traffic controllers into any position of authority.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who sits on the Transportation Committee, said he has “great concerns” about the billionaire eyeing air traffic control: “They’re gonna have a lot more plane crashes, and maybe the planes won’t be able to get off the ground,” he said.

Former New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton groused on social media that the people reportedly involved with DOGE "have no relevant experience. Most of them aren't old enough to rent a car," she said. "And you're going to let them mess with airline safety that's already deteriorated on your watch?" Duffy swiftly retorted: "'experienced' Washington bureaucrats are the reason our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. You need to sit this one out."

Airlines for America, the trade group that represents major U.S. airlines, said in a statement that they "applaud White House efforts to examine the key role FAA technology infrastructure plays in keeping our national airspace safe.”

What exactly the effort may examine is unclear. But earlier Wednesday Duffy promised to “remake our airspace.”

Duffy said that he’d spoken with Musk on Tuesday, calling him a “pretty remarkable guy” who has “access to the best technological people, the best engineers in the world.”

“We’re gonna remake our airspace,” Duffy continued. “And we’re gonna do it quickly, and we have the support of the Congress, I think right now, to say, you know what, we’re using like 1960s, World War II technology in much of the components of the airspace. We’re gonna upgrade it.”

Controllers currently use antiquated equipment, including a radar-based system of keeping track of planes. An effort to transition to a satellite-based air traffic control system known as NextGen has been underway for years, but has been beset by cost overruns and delays.

Some sectors met the news with enthusiasm. The CEO of air taxi company Archer, Adam Goldstein, responded to Duffy's posting saying that "upgrading the technology that underpins the entire aviation system is WAY overdue."

In his speech, Duffy also said that his agency has a plan to “surge” air traffic controllers to be announced in the “next couple days.”

It’s going to take time to get more controllers into the workforce, Duffy emphasized, noting that it is not like “flippin’ a switch” to train them.

The country has been chronically short of controllers — which have a high wash-out rate during training, and who take years to be fully trained — for many decades, dating back to President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 decision to fire striking controllers. That shortage was exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the conference, Duffy didn’t offer any specifics about the plan, and DOT could not immediately provide any additional details. But controllers are typically trained in the vagaries of specific airspace and must have separate training to work in certain kind of facilities.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association in a statement said it welcomes the opportunity to work with Duffy on "improving the recruitment, training, and retention" of controllers to "help address the chronic staffing shortage."

Duffy also noted that, before last week’s catastrophic midair collision between a regional American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over the Potomac River, two controller positions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — one focused on helicopters and the other on planes — had been consolidated earlier in the day than is typical.

“I’m gonna look at the policies and procedures inside the tower, why that happened,” Duffy said.

He also questioned why military helicopter training flights in D.C., like the one involved in the disaster, are done at hours such as 9 p.m. when passenger air routes are busy, rather than later overnight, like at 1 a.m.

“And if we have generals who are flying in helicopters for convenience through this airspace, that’s unacceptable,” Duffy said. “Get in a damn Suburban and drive.”

The Black Hawk in the crash was conducting a routine training mission. The 12th Aviation Battalion — the same unit involved in the collision — is charged with priority air transport for government officials below the president, including the secretary of Defense, four-star generals and members of Congress. But the unit has a more important mission: ensuring the continuity of government if the U.S. capital is under attack.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/musk-cost-cutters-plug-air-195658811.html

Biden State Dept glorified Jihad in UN materials

When the Biden administration resumed funding to the United Nations relief agency for Gaza, it penned an internal memo aimed at defending UNRWA over its production of childhood "educational materials" that encourage violence and demonize Israel. Some of those materials included references to "jihad" and Israeli "occupation"—terms that the Biden State Department wrote are "in line with U.N. principles" and only "viewed as inappropriate by some other audiences."

The memo, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon through a records request from watchdog group Protect the Public Trust, came roughly two weeks after the Biden administration restored tens of millions of dollars in funding to UNRWA in April 2021 following a pause during President Donald Trump's first stint in the White House. Written by deputy assistant secretary Nancy Izzo Jackson for Secretary of State Antony Blinken, it addressed "examples of criticism" targeting UNRWA and laid out the State Department's "response."

The first section, titled, "Educational Materials," notes that UNRWA made "home-learning 'cards,' based on the Palestinian Authority's educational curriculum, to supplement textbooks sent home" during the COVID pandemic. Some of those cards, according to a January 2021 report from research firm Impact-se, included the "encouragement of violence" and accused Israel "of deliberately dumping radioactive and toxic waste in the West Bank."

UNRWA, the State Department wrote, had already removed or changed the content before the report's release. Shortly thereafter, however, Impact-se issued a follow-up report that identified additional "problematic cards," including "references to jihad in and violence in Arabic language lessons for grades 6 and 9," as well as references to "the Israeli occupation." UNRWA determined that those terms did not violate "U.N. principles," according to the State Department memo, which states that only "some other audiences" may object to them.

"UNRWA removed or updated four cards while retaining a dozen cards it deemed as in line with U.N. principles (e.g. use of 'jihad' in the Quran or the term 'occupation') but are viewed as inappropriate by some other audiences," the State Department said.

The memo offers a fresh window into the Biden administration's decision to restore funding to UNRWA—one that shows the Biden State Department was well aware of the issues plaguing the embattled relief agency but opted to barrel forward with funds anyway. It came just two months before the State Department privately assessed that Hamas was likely to benefit from more than $360 million in additional aid.

Those private assessments did not square with the administration's public one. When announcing the funding restoration, Blinken said the assistance "serves important U.S. interests," including "Israeli-Palestinian understanding."

Behind closed doors, however, the State Department acknowledged concerns that UNRWA’s facilities are used by "terrorist groups" like Hamas. Its memo referenced the 2020 discovery of tunnels beneath an UNRWA school and facility but said it remained "unknown which entity is responsible" for them.

Hamas, in the lead up to Oct. 7 and after it, relied heavily on a sophisticated tunnel system built beneath the Gaza Strip. Many of these networks connected to UNRWA schools, which were also used as Hamas military outposts.

UNRWA, the State Department maintained in its memo, "has been very transparent with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and with the United States when any such incidents occur."

In a separate report prepared for Congress in 2021, the State Department documented "violations of UNRWA’s neutrality policies that are not consistent with the principle of neutrality." This included "slogans, graffiti, or other imagery on the inside or outside of UNRWA facilities." More than 247 infractions were reported from 2019 to 2020 alone, the report states.

The report also noted that, despite a "strict no-arms policy" at all UNRWA facilities, the agency had reported "armed incursions, armed incidents, unauthorized use of UNRWA installations, weapons, and tunnels."

To address these concerns, the State Department proposed sending even more money to UNRWA so that it could train staff how to uphold the "principles of neutrality, tolerance, anti-discrimination, and human rights."

Michael Chamberlain, Protect the Public’s Trust’s director, said the newly unearthed State Department documents highlight how the former administration "tried to sell a wholly unrealistic version of UNRWA to Congress."

"Even with all they knew, they shrugged and wrote the checks anyway," he told the Free Beacon. "All the post-Oct. 7 reports about UNRWA staff participating in terrorist attacks and terror groups storing war materiel in UNRWA facilities were not surprising to anyone paying attention—not even to the officials in charge of the decision to resume sending money to this organization."

While UNRWA’s ties to terrorism have long generated concerns in Congress, it was not until Oct. 7 that these issues hit the mainstream. At least 19 UNRWA staff members participated in Hamas’s terror spree, leading the Biden administration and international donors to pause their funding. Israel maintains that many more helped Hamas hide hostages and gave it access to UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip.

Israel formally banned UNRWA late last month, citing its role in the Oct. 7 attacks. Israeli officials are now barred from working with the aid agency and the country seeks an alternative route to provide aid in the Gaza Strip.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-state-dept-privately-downplayed-use-of-jihad-and-occupation-in-unrwa-made-study-materials-saying-only-some-other-audiences-view-the-terms-as-inappropriate/

Chinese lab tortures 300 Beagles per week, paid for by U.S. taxpayers

-Last year, White Coat Waste Project (WCW)’s Seeing Red investigation uncovered horrific taxpayer-funded dog testing in Chinese labs

-New federal contracts obtained by WCW via FOIA show 300 beagles per week are being force-fed and injected with drugs in wasteful tests in China funded with our tax dollars

-The documents from the Chinese lab state: “Beagle dog is docile, cute, and easy to domesticate, so it has been the best choice”

-The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense are funding this puppy abuse in China through a recently extended contract

-With support from leading lawmakers, WCW has unveiled a plan urging President Trump and DOGE to defund all dog testing and animal labs in China

In early 2020, White Coat Waste first exposed and ended Dr. Fauci’s reckless funding for gain-of-function animal tests in Wuhan that violated federal policy, likely infected COVID Patient Zero, and sparked a pandemic.

Now, the CIA has joined other intelligence agencies, experts, and 7-in-10 Americans by admitting that the Wuhan animal lab likely caused COVID.

But, despite what happened in Wuhan, our recent “Seeing Red” investigation uncovered how deadly dog testing and other animal experiments are still being funded by American tax dollars in dozens of Chinese laboratories.

Now, never-before-seen documents obtained by WCW through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal disturbing details of one of these active taxpayer-funded Chinese dog labs.

Records show that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have recently extended a contract for abusive and wasteful drug tests on 300 beagles weekly until the end of May 2025. NIH is paying $124,000 and the DOD is kicking in an unspecified amount of taxpayers’ money.

The documents detail show puppies as young as 8 months old will be forced to endure traumatic procedures like repeatedly having tubes shoved down their throats to force-feed them experimental drugs and be restrained for hours on end.

Records show that this taxpayer-funded contract is paying the Chinese lab to abuse 300 beagles per week for 91 weeks in this testing!

The documents revealed how truly callous these white coats in China are. Why did they choose to torture beagles? Because of their best qualities: how loveable and cute they are. In their own words: “Beagle dog is docile, cute, and easy to domesticate, so it has been the best choice.”

These wasteful tax-funded puppy tests are allegedly being conducted to fulfill regulatory requirements even though the Food and Drug Administration has stated clearly that it, “does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs.”

The records also expose another $108,000 wasted for deadly drug tests on an estimated 100,000 mice and rats.

In all, we’ve uncovered that at least 26 animal laboratories in China have active approvals to receive taxpayer dollars from the NIH, DOD, and other government agencies. Some of these animal labs are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and linked to the Chinese military.

Is this how you want your money spent?

For years—from Fauci’s beagle lab in Tunisia to the NIH’s “coke hounds”—WCW has been leading the fight to expose and stop the government’s wasteful spending on barbaric dog experiments at home and abroad. It’s at the very top of our list of priorities for President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

American taxpayers should never be forced to fund beagle abuse in unaccountable foreign animal labs.

Chinese lab tortures 300 Beagles per week, paid for by U.S. taxpayers

-Last year, White Coat Waste Project (WCW)’s Seeing Red investigation uncovered horrific taxpayer-funded dog testing in Chinese labs

-New federal contracts obtained by WCW via FOIA show 300 beagles per week are being force-fed and injected with drugs in wasteful tests in China funded with our tax dollars

-The documents from the Chinese lab state: “Beagle dog is docile, cute, and easy to domesticate, so it has been the best choice”

-The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense are funding this puppy abuse in China through a recently extended contract

-With support from leading lawmakers, WCW has unveiled a plan urging President Trump and DOGE to defund all dog testing and animal labs in China

In early 2020, White Coat Waste first exposed and ended Dr. Fauci’s reckless funding for gain-of-function animal tests in Wuhan that violated federal policy, likely infected COVID Patient Zero, and sparked a pandemic.

Now, the CIA has joined other intelligence agencies, experts, and 7-in-10 Americans by admitting that the Wuhan animal lab likely caused COVID.

But, despite what happened in Wuhan, our recent “Seeing Red” investigation uncovered how deadly dog testing and other animal experiments are still being funded by American tax dollars in dozens of Chinese laboratories.

Now, never-before-seen documents obtained by WCW through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal disturbing details of one of these active taxpayer-funded Chinese dog labs.

Records show that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have recently extended a contract for abusive and wasteful drug tests on 300 beagles weekly until the end of May 2025. NIH is paying $124,000 and the DOD is kicking in an unspecified amount of taxpayers’ money.

The documents detail show puppies as young as 8 months old will be forced to endure traumatic procedures like repeatedly having tubes shoved down their throats to force-feed them experimental drugs and be restrained for hours on end.

Records show that this taxpayer-funded contract is paying the Chinese lab to abuse 300 beagles per week for 91 weeks in this testing!

The documents revealed how truly callous these white coats in China are. Why did they choose to torture beagles? Because of their best qualities: how loveable and cute they are. In their own words: “Beagle dog is docile, cute, and easy to domesticate, so it has been the best choice.”

These wasteful tax-funded puppy tests are allegedly being conducted to fulfill regulatory requirements even though the Food and Drug Administration has stated clearly that it, “does not mandate that human drugs be studied in dogs.”

The records also expose another $108,000 wasted for deadly drug tests on an estimated 100,000 mice and rats.

In all, we’ve uncovered that at least 26 animal laboratories in China have active approvals to receive taxpayer dollars from the NIH, DOD, and other government agencies. Some of these animal labs are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and linked to the Chinese military.

Is this how you want your money spent?

For years—from Fauci’s beagle lab in Tunisia to the NIH’s “coke hounds”—WCW has been leading the fight to expose and stop the government’s wasteful spending on barbaric dog experiments at home and abroad. It’s at the very top of our list of priorities for President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

American taxpayers should never be forced to fund beagle abuse in unaccountable foreign animal labs.

https://blog.whitecoatwaste.org/2025/01/28/wcw-investigation-chinese-lab-torturing-300-cute-beagles-a-week-with-our-money/