Raytheon CFO sees ‘a lot of opportunity’ for 2022

Neil Mitchill projects air travel’s return to continue to boost growth

The chief financial officer of Raytheon Technologies, parent company of Collins Aerospace, Cedar Rapids’ largest employer, sees mostly blue skies going forward for the aerospace and defense company — with just possibly a few bumps along the way.

Neil Mitchill, during an online Q&A with a Baird analyst Tuesday morning, said the Waltham, Mass.-based multinational had reached $1.5 billion in free cash flow as of its third quarter.

He projected Raytheon's full-year sales to close out at $64.5 billion, citing “isolated” supply chain issues and inflationary costs, among other headwinds.

He said he anticipated commercial traffic to continue to grow in 2022, as domestic and international travel return and aircraft “get back to their routes.”

The United States reopened traffic to many international vaccinated travelers on Monday.

Flight traffic in Asia may lag, though, Mitchill added.

But that overall resurgence should help drive Collins Aerospace’s aftermarket business — the maintenance, repair or overhaul of its products.

In addition, prospects into the coming year for narrow-body, or single-aisle, aircraft remained “good,” he said, and has been a key “driver.”

Deliveries resumed in the third quarter, and continued into the fourth, for Boeing’s MAX 737 products.

He also expected to see production picking up for wide-body aircraft, such as 787s, with “a lot of opportunity going forward,” depending on ongoing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

As for Raytheon’s overall defense portfolio — defense spending, Mitchill remarked, is “nonpartisan” — “we have our chips spread well across the table,” he said.

He pointed to an increase in demand for both domestic and international sales.

Mitchill also said Raytheon remained “laser focused on cost reduction (through) all of our businesses.”

So far, the global corporation has reached $1 billion in cost cuts since its April 2020 merger with United Technologies — then Collins Aerospace’s parent company — in its target of $1.5 billion, he said.

Raytheon’s four business units are Collins Aerospace Systems; Pratt and Whitney; Raytheon Intelligence and Space; and Raytheon Missiles and Defense.

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