GE Improves: Energy Ops Drag, NBCU Bright Spot

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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GE announced today second-quarter 2010 earnings from continuing operations (attributable to GE) of $3.3 billion, with EPS of $0.30 per share up 15% from the second quarter of 2009. Revenues were $37.4 billion for the quarter, down 4% from a year ago, impacted by lower GE Capital assets, industrial dispositions and lower equipment sales as expected.

“GE’s economic environment continues to improve,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said, citing growth in orders, margins and earnings amid other encouraging signs in the quarter. “Equipment orders increased 17%, including 20% growth in the Energy Infrastructure segment and 14% at Technology Infrastructure. Oil & Gas and Healthcare orders were particular bright spots and helped hold total company orders backlog roughly flat, excluding the impact of foreign exchange, according to the company.

Earnings from continuing operations attributable to GE were $3.3 billion, up 14% from $2.9 billion in the second quarter of 2009. EPS from continuing operations was $0.30, up 15% from last year. Segment profit increased 8% compared with the second quarter of 2009, as 93% growth at GE Capital, 13% growth at NBC Universal and 59% growth at Home & Business Solutions, more than offset an 11% earnings decline at Technology Infrastructure.

Including the effects of discontinued operations, second quarter net earnings attributable to GE were $3.1 billion ($0.28 per share attributable to common shareowners) in 2010 compared with $2.7 billion ($0.25 per share attributable to common shareowners) in the second quarter of 2009.

Revenues decreased 4% to $37.4 billion. GE Capital Services’ (GECS) revenues fell 2% versus last year to $13.1 billion. Industrial sales were $24.4 billion, down 6% from the second quarter of 2009.

Revenue at the company’s huge energy infrastructure unit dropped 9% to $9.5 billion. Sales at the NBCU unit of which GE is selling the majority were up 5% to $3.8 million.

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
Summary of Operating Segments (unaudited)
Three Months Six Months
Ended June 30 Ended June 30
(Dollars in millions) 2010 2009 V% 2010 2009 V%
Revenues
Energy Infrastructure(a) $ 9,540 $ 10,459 (9)% $ 18,195 $ 19,541 (7)%
Technology Infrastructure(a) 9,061 9,637 (6)% 17,720 19,160 (8)%
NBC Universal 3,750 3,565 5% 8,070 7,089 14%
GE Capital(a) 12,297 12,736 (3)% 24,628 26,511 (7)%
Home & Business Solutions(a) 2,250 2,169 4% 4,190 4,093 2%
Total segment revenues 36,898 38,566 (4)% 72,803 76,394 (5)%
Corporate items and eliminations 546 542 1% 1,246 1,152 8%
Consolidated revenues from continuing operations $ 37,444 $ 39,108 (4)% $ 74,049 $ 77,546 (5)%
Segment profit (b)
Energy Infrastructure(a) $ 1,910 $ 1,863 3% $ 3,391 $ 3,181 7%
Technology Infrastructure(a) 1,554 1,743 (11)% 2,957 3,445 (14)%
NBC Universal 607 539 13% 806 930 (13)%
GE Capital(a) 830 431 93% 1,437 1,460 (2)%
Home & Business Solutions(a) 143 90 59% 214 135 59%
Total segment profit 5,044 4,666 8% 8,805 9,151 (4)%
Corporate items and eliminations (331 ) (538 ) 38% (626 ) (955 ) 34%
GE interest and other financial charges (430 ) (348 ) (24)% (773 ) (724 ) (7)%
GE provision for income taxes (986 ) (897 ) (10)% (1,774 ) (1,739 ) (2)%
Earnings from continuing operations attributable to the Company 3,297 2,883 14% 5,632 5,733 (2)%

Douglas A. McIntyre

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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