General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is scheduled to report first-quarter financial results on Friday before the markets opened. The consensus estimates call for $0.19 in earnings per share (EPS) on $27.67 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.20 in EPS on $29.36 billion in revenue.
This iconic blue chip industrial has been on a strong roll, and the currency tailwinds may help it to continue the winning ways. GE is a highly diversified, global industrial corporation. Its products and services include power generation equipment, aircraft engines, locomotives, medical equipment, appliances, commercial leasing and personal finance. Merrill Lynch analysts feel that the American giant will be a large player in the efficient energy field.
The company is in the middle of a huge plan to scale back many of its operation and return capital to shareholders. GE announced a restructuring plan last year that includes buying back up to $50 billion of its shares, selling about $30 billion in real estate assets over the next two years and divesting more GE Capital operations. The continued restructuring and sale of the appliance division provides some cushion to earnings estimates.
GE posted solid fourth-quarter numbers that were somewhat hampered by slower organic growth and the Alstom power division purchase, which the company purchased from the French turbine maker. The deal was finalized in November for $10 billion and creates a $50 billion turbine services backlog, another positive for 2016 and beyond.
Ahead of the earnings report a few analysts weighed in on the stock:
- Deutsche Bank reiterated a Hold rating.
- Morgan Stanley reiterated a Hold rating.
- Sanford Bernstein has a Market Perform rating with a $34 price target.
- Stifel reiterated a Buy rating.
So far in 2016 GE has performed relatively flat, but over the past 52-weeks the stock has jumped by about 19%.
Shares of GE were last trading at $31.25, with a consensus analyst price target of $33.09 and a 52-week trading range of $19.37 to $32.05.
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