Diversified manufacturer Parker Hannifin said its total orders in December grew by six percent versus a year ago, helped by a strong performance in its international and aerospace divisions.
The company said orders in its Industrial International segment jumped by 17 percent last month, while its Aerospace segment posted an increase of 10 percent, on a rolling 12-month average basis. The company’s Climate and Industrial Controls business saw orders decrease by one percent from a year ago, and Industrial North America saw a two-percent decline in orders.
Caris & Co. analyst Rick Whittington said the international and aerospace results were consistent with global integrated growth and production increases in aerospace, while the drop in North America was in-line with the deceleration of the manufacturing PMI towards the end of the year.
He attributed that slowdown to softening U.S. off-highway machinery results and a poor first-half production outlook for heavy trucks.
The increase in aerospace orders is consistent with the higher deliveries anticipated by Boeing, as well as continued strength evident in the business-jet sector, Whittington said.
Parker is the world’s largest diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, and its monthly orders report can be used by the industry as a gauge of where business is, and where it may be headed.
