Is Honeywell International Inc. (HON) the Best Dow Stock?

We recently published a list of The Best and Worst Dow Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) stands against other Dow stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a benchmark index of the top 30 companies in the US. It represents the strength of the US economy and carries great historical significance as well.

It also acts as a reference point for analysts and investors. However, not all stocks within this elite group of companies perform equally. While some thrive on innovation and economic boom, others struggle due to various setbacks and economic trends.

We decided to break down the index and find out the best and worst stocks, looking at what was making them perform unexpectedly this year.

Methodology

In order to come up with our ranking of the best and worst Dow stocks, we first assigned a rank to each stock based on the number of hedge funds holding the stock. We then looked at the short interest in each stock and assigned the top rank to the company with the least short interest.

We then combined the two ranks to see which stock was the best on average. The list is in ascending order, with the best stock taking the number one spot.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67

Short Interest as of Apr 30, 2025: 1.29%

Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) is involved in the building automation, industrial automation, aerospace technologies, and energy and sustainable solutions businesses. On the back of analyst Amit Mehrotra’s confidence in the company, it was recently added to research firm UBS’s top picks list.

The research firm maintained its Buy rating on the stock. Mehrotra highlighted Honeywell’s attractive valuation, confidence in execution, and segment strength and margin recovery as the main factors behind this upgrade.

He further said:

“We are now adding Honeywell to that list due to good management of expectations, encouraging underlying growth and positioning, and a valuation that we view as having meaningful room for improvement.”

The company has recently announced the acquisition of Sundyne, a pump and gas compressor maker, for $2.16 billion. With this acquisition, the firm will improve its offerings in automation and control systems and critical equipment for industries including petrochemicals and oil and gas. This move is a part of Honeywell’s restructuring efforts.

Chairman and CEO Vimal Kapur mentioned:

“By combining Honeywell’s top-tier technology with Sundyne’s leading process industry solutions, this acquisition will further enhance our dynamic Honeywell UOP business and create strategic growth opportunities in attractive verticals.”

Overall, HON ranks 20th on our list of best and worst Dow stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of HON as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than HON but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.