Strong sales growth in the Americas and Asia after a year marred by COVID-19 nearly doubled Farmington elevator manufacturer Otis Worldwide Corp.’s first-quarter profits, prompting company officials to improve their full-year outlook on organic sales to 4% to 6%.
“There continues to be a recovery in North America,” said Otis President and CEO Judy Marks during a conference call with investors Monday. “The U.S. and Canada, especially, are back and very strong.”
Marks also pointed to surging new equipment sales in large Chinese cities as an indication that demand for Otis’s products — which include not only elevators but escalators, moving walkways and related equipment — is on the rebound.
New equipment orders were up 18.4% overall.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company suffered from a lack of access to job sites, according to CFO Rahul Ghai. With travel restrictions now easing in many places around the world, Ghai noted, Otis crews have returned to maintenance and installation work.
The company is also continuing its rollout of internet-connected IoT elevators, with a particular focus on North America and China.
Otis said its net income reached $308 million, or 71 cents per share, in the first three months of 2021, up from $165 million, or 38 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Net sales grew from $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2020 to $3.4 billion in the first quarter of this year.
According to a revised 2021 outlook, the firm now expects to generate net sales of $13.6 billion to $13.9 billion, up between 6.7% and 8.7%. Organic sales are predicted to rise between 4% and 6%.
Otis became a standalone company one year ago this week after being spun off from its former parent company, United Technologies Corp. UTC subsequently merged with Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon Co. to form Raytheon Technologies Corp.
