United Tech cuts 2015 forecasts on currency worries

(Adds CEO, CFO comments)

By Lewis Krauskopf

Jan 26 (Reuters) - United Technologies Corp on Monday cut its full-year outlook because of the negative impact of a stronger dollar even as the U.S. conglomerate reported higher quarterly earnings on a rise in profit at its aerospace businesses.

United Tech, which derives some 62 percent of sales from outside the United States, is hurt by the strengthening dollar once those sales are translated back into the U.S. currency. In an interview, Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said that, to offset some of the currency impact, the company would cut costs and raise its planned share buyback for the year from $2 billion to $3 billion.

"We need to be leaner at the corporate office, leaner at our overhead structures to help offset some of this currency risk," Hayes told Reuters.

Shares of the diversified manufacturer of Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Otis elevators fell 2.3 percent in after-hours trading.

The company said it now expected 2015 earnings in a range of $6.85 to $7.05 per share, down from its prior range of $7.00 to $7.20, which it first gave in December.

It forecast 2015 sales in a range of $65 billion to $66 billion. In December, it projected $66 billion to $67 billion in sales for this year.

Analysts have been looking for earnings of $7.19 per share on sales of $67.02 billion.

Executives said the changes did not reflect any difference in its fundamental outlook, and backed the company's forecast for 3 percent to 5 percent in organic sales growth for the year.

"Nothing has changed fundamentally about the way we view the world in terms of operations," Chief Financial Officer Akhil Johri said in an interview.

United Technologies said fourth-quarter net income rose 0.7 percent to $1.47 billion from the same period a year ago. Earnings of $1.62 per share matched the average estimate of analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 1.4 percent to $17 billion. Analysts were looking for $17.13 billion.

Previously United Tech's finance chief, Hayes replaced former CEO Louis Chenevert in November. The company said then that Chenevert had retired in a move that stunned Wall Street.

Hayes has shaken up his management, particularly on the aerospace side. On Monday, he said those moves were "really just to streamline the overhead function." (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Diane Craft and James Dalgleish)