honeywell (nasdaq: hon) recently announced the results for the first quarter of 2023, and various indicators exceeded the company's guidance range. the company also raised the midpoint of its guidance range for full-year organic growth, segment margins and adjusted eps.
the company's sales in the first quarter increased by 6% year-on-year, and organic sales increased by 8% year-on-year. among them, the organic sales of honeywell performance materials and technology group and aerospace group achieved double-digit growth again. operating margin increased 390 basis points to 19.1% and segment margin increased 90 basis points to 22.0%, driven by continued strong growth in safety & productivity solutions and building technologies. honeywell's first-quarter earnings per share were $2.07, up 26% year-over-year or 8% on an adjusted basis. operating cash flow was -$800 million and free cash flow was -$1 billion.
"honeywell is off to a good start in 2023, with all indicators exceeding expectations in the first quarter." darius darius, chairman and ceo of honeywell adamczyk said, "double-digit growth in commercial aviation, uop, process control, smart buildings and performance materials businesses drove organic sales growth. backlog was $30.3 billion, up 6% year-over-year. the strength of the aerospace group, in particular, gives us confidence in our full-year outlook. our continued focus on operational excellence and productivity allowed us to weather inflation in a comfortable manner and beat segment margins and earnings per share. strong performance the balance sheet allowed us to deploy $1.6 billion in share repurchases, dividends and capital expenditures during the quarter. honeywell also announced that it will acquire american compressor controls inc., a provider of turbomachinery control and automation solutions a leader, combined with our process solutions installed base and connected factory platform strength, will help customers accelerate the energy transition."
du ruizhe also said: "looking forward to the full year, despite the uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment, we will continue to achieve excellent results with strengths. our business is well-positioned for continued growth, and our backlog supports business expectations , the differentiated technology solution portfolio enables us to solve the most difficult challenges in the field of automation, digitalization and sustainable development on a global scale. these advantages strongly support our upward revision of the full-year forecast. i firmly believe that honeywell will be in kewei mao ( vimal kapur's leadership continued. i am honored to have the opportunity to lead honeywell, and our future looks bright. "
based on the company's first-quarter results and management's outlook for the remaining three quarters of the year, honeywell raised the midpoint of its guidance range for full-year sales, segment margins and adjusted earnings per share. currently, annual sales are expected to be between us$36.5 billion and us$37.3 billion, with organic growth of 3% to 6%. segment margins are expected to be 22.3% to 22.6%, with margin expansion of 60 to 90 basis points. adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $9.00 to $9.25, with a 20-cent increase in the lower end of the guidance range and a 5-cent increase in the upper end. operating cash flow is expected to be in the range of $4.9 billion to $5.3 billion. free cash flow is expected to be between $3.9 billion and $4.3 billion.
