General Electric Will Certainly Be 2017’s Worst DJIA Stock

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) shares dropped 1.8% last week, closing Friday with a gain of less than 0.2% and a 32-cent (0.18%) decline for the week. GE has no real challenger as the worst performing equity on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index. For the year to date, the shares have suffered a loss of more than 44%.

This is the industrial giant’s 23rd consecutive week as the Dow’s worst performer. The company maintains a big lead over the second worst stock, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), down about 8.1% for the year, and third-worst, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), down about 7%. Only five of the 30 Dow stocks are trading down so far this year.

The Dow posted an all-time high of 24,876.07 on Monday and closed the week at 24,754.06. As of Friday, the Dow had increased about 24.5% for the year.

GE got some good news this past week with an order for 200 locomotives from Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI). The locomotives will be built at GE’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and deliveries to the rail operator will begin next year. The balance of the locomotives will be delivered in 2019 and 2020.

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In other GE news, the president’s nominee to head the U.S. Export-Import Bank was rejected by the Senate Banking Committee. GE and other big U.S. manufacturing firms, like Boeing, use the bank to provide loan guarantees on major purchases from certain customers. Scott Garrett, whose nomination was rejected, had tried to shut down the Ex-Im Bank in 2015, calling it a source of “corporate welfare.”

GE’s shares closed down 0.18% Friday, at $17.50 in a 52-week trading range of $17.36 to $32.05. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock is $21.99, unchanged from last week’s target. The low end of the price target range remained at $15 and the high end remained at $36.

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