General Electric Earnings Barely Overcome Financial Services Sell-Off

Industrials

Published: July 17, 2015 7:55 am

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 10:01 pm

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reported second-quarter 2015 results before markets opened Friday. The conglomerate reported adjusted diluted quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.28 on revenues of $32.75 billion. In the same period a year ago, GE reported EPS of $0.32 on revenues of $32.26 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $0.28 on revenues of $28.7 billion.

Revenues in the oil and gas segment in the quarter were down 15% year over year from $4.76 billion to $4.06 billion. That drop was offset by an 8% increase in power and water segment revenues. Overall, industrial segment revenues were flat at $33.09 billion, compared with $33.18 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The issues we noted in our preview on Thursday still need answers: the impact on estimates going forward on the Synchrony spin-off, whether the appliance business sale to Electrolux will be approved, whether the acquisition of France’s Alstom will ever be completed, and the list goes on.

GE said it had signed off on $68 billion in sales of its lending business and expects to reach its target of $100 billion in asset sales by the end of this year.

GE also noted that its backlog during the quarter rose 8% year over year to $272 billion, a record for the company.

CEO Jeff Immelt said:

The environment remains one of slow growth and volatility, particularly in growth markets, while the U.S. is gradually improving. Our industrial businesses had another quarter of strong EPS growth of 18% and orders up 8%. … We are raising our 2015 Industrial operating EPS guidance to $1.13–1.20, and are confirming GE Capital verticals are on track for EPS of $0.15.

Analysts have estimated third-quarter EPS of $0.33 on revenues of $31.04 billion. For the full year, the current consensus calls for EPS of $1.29 on revenues of $125.16 billion. That will give the share price a bit of a lift in Friday trading.

Shares traded up about 1.9% in Friday’s premarket session, at $27.52 in a 52-week range of $23.41 to $28.68. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $30.15 before the results were announced.

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