NextFin News - Honeywell held an investor day on Thursday ahead of its planned June 29 breakup into separate aerospace and automation businesses, and CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the stock is a buy before the split. He said he expects volatility and “grave dislocations” around the separation, but would buy on weakness and sees “50 points to be had” once the restructuring is complete and investors can value the standalone businesses more clearly.
Cramer, who anchors CNBC’s “Mad Money” and speaks through the CNBC Investing Club, has long favored companies he believes can unlock value through execution or corporate action. Here, his case is tied less to a quarterly report than to Honeywell’s changing structure and the possibility that the two businesses together will command a higher valuation than the current conglomerate.
Honeywell is set to separate into two businesses later this month. Cramer’s argument centers in particular on the automation arm, which he said has a “huge TAM,” or total addressable market. He said some market participants “do not have the ability to assess how big this market really is,” making clear that his case depends heavily on a valuation rerating rather than an immediate jump in earnings.
His call, though, is his own and not presented in the CNBC extract as a broad Wall Street consensus. Breakups can look cleaner on paper than they do in execution, and investors still have to weigh separation costs, tax treatment, management incentives, and the risk that both new companies initially trade with more uncertainty than the combined company did. A simpler structure can help, but the path from announcement to a lasting rerating is often uneven.
Cramer’s own wording reflects that risk. When he warns of “grave dislocations,” he is saying the stock could swing sharply around the spin before settling at what investors decide is a fair value. That can create opportunity for traders willing to buy into weakness, but it also raises the risk for anyone expecting an orderly move. If investors mark down the new Honeywell businesses too aggressively, the stock could fall before the long-term case takes hold. If enthusiasm for the separation is strong, gains could come fast, leaving less room for new buyers to find obvious mispricing.
There is also a difference between a strong idea and a dependable return driver. Industrial breakups can unlock value when conglomerate discounts are wide, capital allocation improves, or management runs each business more tightly after a split. They can also disappoint if the separated companies are valued on less generous terms than bullish investors expect. Honeywell’s aerospace business and its automation business will face different end markets, different cyclicality, and different shareholder bases. That may help investors value each company more precisely, but it also removes some of the diversification that came with keeping them together.
For Cramer, the attraction appears to be the event itself. He is not pitching Honeywell as a momentum trade tied to a quarter or a product cycle. He is arguing that the breakup creates a near-term chance for the market to misprice the transition, which fits his usual preference for identifiable catalysts that can quickly change how investors view a company.
That opportunity still cuts both ways. The same separation that could lift valuations could also leave less room for error if one of the new companies stumbles. If aerospace demand weakens, if automation growth disappoints, or if investors decide the standalone businesses deserve a lower industrial multiple than the combined company, any breakup premium could fade. Honeywell’s first real test comes after June 29, when investors can stop speculating about the split and price the two businesses separately.
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