Industrials

Why GE Was Added as a Top Focus List Stock at Credit Suisse

The stock market panic sell-off has left many attractive buying opportunities for long-term investors who can filter through the noise that caused the sell-off in the first place. If Credit Suisse is correct, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is one of those top opportunities.

Credit Suisse already had an Outperform rating on GE shares, but now the firm has added the stock to its US Focus List and its Global Focus List. The firm’s $31.00 price target compares to a $25.30 prior closing price. With GE having been added to the focus lists, Credit Suisse clients around the world are now being aggressively told to buy GE shares if they do not already own it — or to buy more if they do.

Wednesday’s note showed the catalysts that are expected to drive a rebound in GE’s share price performance. One of those is a very favorable risk/reward profile of the stocks in the industrial and conglomerates sector after having sold off so much. Credit Suisse also expects a fairly subdued earnings reporting season.

While Credit Suisse did not spend much time on the Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) spin-off, this ties in here as well. Synchrony’s spin-off should be coming in the next quarter or so. What stands out to 24/7 Wall St. about this GE call is that much of it is why GE is actively one of our own 10 stocks to own for the next decade. In call elsewhere, Merrill Lynch listed GE as a transforming-world stock. GE was also shown to be looking better than rivals after the last earnings reports.

ALSO READ: UBS Adds Top Industrial Stock to Quality Growth at a Reasonable Price Portfolio

GE itself was shown with several company-specific catalysts. Credit Suisse even thinks these will help drive the shares higher, toward the $28.00 to $29.00 range, in a shorter period than that $31.00 longer-term price target.

GE’s high services and aftermarket mix of earnings were said to imply relatively limited downside risks in the event of a weak global macro environment in 2016. Another defensive agent for GE shareholders is an already-high dividend yield of over 3.5%.
Remember that GE is set to spend massively on share buybacks with the billions of dollars it is getting from all those financial assets being sold off in its quest to become more of an industrial conglomerate.

Another boost is that the firm’s capital divestments are expected to regain momentum after a summer pause. The firm said:

We think the pace will pick up on GECC divestments, with a further $30-plus billion of deals potentially to be announced by year-end. Many of these sales should be out of the US Commercial Lending and Leasing unit business, which is critical if GE is to exit from its Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) status in 2016. The sooner that GE can be de-designated as a SIFI, the sooner large share buy-backs can start (likely in the second half of 2016).

Also, the Alstom deal can now finally close. Credit Suisse thinks that further M&A could ensue from GE. The report said:

Following the EC and US DoJ’s conditional approval of the Alstom Power acquisition last week, we expect the deal to formally close in the fourth quarter of 2015. This should allow GE to pursue other industrial acquisitions, which have effectively been on hold since April 2014, when the Alstom deal was first announced. As the portfolio shifts towards a higher weighting of industrial earnings, this should help push up the overall GE valuation multiple. We would expect future M&A deals to be focused on oil & gas, aviation, and healthcare in particular.

Synchrony Financial shares were indicated down by 1.9%, at $30.53 early Wednesday. It has a consensus analyst price target of $37.80 and a 52-week trading range of $23.76 to $36.40. Recall that when Synchrony first debuted as a public company, the 125 million share initial public offering was at $23.00 per share.

ALSO READ: 8 Buybacks and Dividends Just Too Big to Ignore

GE shares closed at $25.30 on Tuesday, and they were trading up 1.9% at $25.80 Wednesday morning. Credit Suisse’s $31.00 price target compares to GE’s consensus price target of $29.85 and to a 52-week range of $19.37 to $28.68.

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