United Technologies to Divest Asset
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to divest its UTC Power fuel cells unit to ClearEdge Power - manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells - located in Hillsboro, Oregon. The deal is accepted to close in early 2013; however, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. This acquisition is expected to help ClearEdge to strengthen its position as a leading provider of cost effective distributed Power solutions.
Earlier, in December 2012, United Technologies announced the signing of an agreement to divest its Pratt & Whitney Power Systems unit, which is currently a part of Pratt & Whitney, to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) . With this divestiture of Power Systems Unit, United Technologies intends to better focus on its aerospace and commercial businesses.
United Technologies is focusing on strengthening its balance sheet. Besides improving the quality of its portfolio, United Technologies intends to increase its liquidity by selling assets that no longer fit within the company’s strategy. At the end of third quarter 2012, cash and cash equivalents of the company stood at $6.2 billion. Further, now through this transaction, United Technologies seeks to reposition its portfolio and primarily focus on aerospace and building systems.
United Technologies provides high-end technology products and services to the building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. The company is a diversified business conglomerate serving various end markets such as aerospace, defense and commercial construction, which move according to their own cycles. Therefore, this mixture and diversification allows the company to remain profitable even during tough economic times.
United Technologies currently has a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We also have a long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock. One of its competitors, General Electric Company (GE) holds a Zacks #4 Rank, which translates into a short-term Sell rating.
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