Even with the turnaround, Honeywell is still overshadowed by some competitors. It trades at 14.8 times estimated 2013 earnings, a 7.9 percent discount to other industrial companies, including Danaher Corp., Tyco International Ltd., W.W. Grainger Inc. and 3M, according to Deane Dray, an analyst with Citigroup Inc. “At some point that fear about ‘Gee, I got burned a long time ago' or ‘Gee, something bad still could happen' disappears, and it's the weight of the earnings and cash flow that finally causes things to tip,” Cote said. “I think we're pretty close to that happening.”

Investors are starting to believe. Back in 2010, when Cote announced five-year goals to increase revenue and profit margins, the plan was met with derision. “People laughed,” said Katie Pease, an analyst with Institutional Capital LLC, which manages $25 billion. “Now you actually feel comfortable holding Honeywell because you believe they can execute.”

Eoin Treacy's view The rehabilitation of the industrial sector has taken the better part of a decade. In that time companies have been forced to innovate in order to prosper. The aeronautics sector remains on a growth trajectory and the advent of embedded processing has the capacity to fuel a revolution in the industrial sector generally. (Also see Comment of the Day on March 4th) .

Honeywell, 3M, Leggett Platt, Genuine Parts, Ingersoll Rand, Roper Industries, W.W. Grainger and Flowserve are in varying stages of reversions towards their respective means but sustained moves below them would be required to question medium-term uptrend consistency.

Illinois Tool Works, Precision Castparts, General Electric, Parker Hannifin, Eaton Corp and Dover Corp found support in the region of their 200-day MAs in the last couple of weeks and sustained moves below these lows would be required to question recovery potential.