Honeywell International heads into its July 23 earnings report with the Street growing more constructive just as short sellers quietly retreat.
The analyst activity this past week has been notably one-directional. Daiwa Capital upgraded to Outperform and lifted its target to $255, Deutsche Bank raised its target to $263 while reiterating Buy, and Goldman Sachs moved its target to $276 earlier in the month — all pointing the same way. Citigroup trimmed its target modestly to $260 on July 1 but kept its Buy rating, making that the lone note of caution in an otherwise bullish cluster. The consensus sits at Buy, with 11 outright buys and 8 holds against the current price of $223.90 — the mean target of $238 implies roughly 6% upside from here. One data point to flag: Morgan Stanley reported a target of $490, which looks like a data error against the current price level and has been excluded from the analysis. Bernstein initiated coverage at Market Perform with a $233 target, landing just above the current price and signalling that not everyone on the Street sees a clear re-rating catalyst near-term.
The borrow market tells a relaxed story, which is consistent with those bullish analyst moves. Short interest has dropped sharply — down 36% over the week to just 1.5% of free float, its lowest level in the 30-day window. Earlier in June, the short position briefly doubled from around 11 million shares to over 20 million, but that buildup has fully unwound. Cost to borrow doubled on the week to 0.89%, a notable move in percentage terms but still negligible in absolute terms — this is a general collateral name, not a hard-to-borrow situation. Availability remains extremely loose at 2,668%, meaning there are roughly 80 million shares available to lend against fewer than 10 million currently borrowed. The lending market is not pricing any squeeze risk.
Options positioning is leaning bullish rather than defensive. The put/call ratio is running at 0.37, slightly below its 20-day average of 0.40 and near the lower end of its 52-week range (0.24–0.82). That compares to a brief spike to 0.66 on June 29, which appears to have been a one-day hedge rather than a sustained shift. Overall, options traders are not reaching for downside protection into the print — the skew is modestly call-heavy.
The valuation picture is mixed but not stretched. The trailing P/E is around 20.9x, and EV/EBITDA runs at 16.4x — both relatively stable over the past 30 days. The forward earnings momentum score sits at 86th percentile for 12-month EPS growth expectations, which is the standout factor. Near-term EPS momentum scores are weaker, ranking in the 26th–35th percentile range, reflecting that estimate revisions have been modest rather than accelerating. The dividend score ranks in the 97th percentile, consistent with HON's history as a reliable income name.
Earnings history on this ticker shows three consecutive positive day-one reactions before a modest 3% decline in April. The five-day drift after the last three prints averaged around 8% to the upside. The next event is July 23 — with the Street tilting bullish, short interest unwinding, and options positioning calm, the setup into that date is more about whether the restructuring narrative holds up than whether the market is braced for a miss.
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