Recent News: Barack Obama, John McCain, Economy, and Indian Airline

Chief executive or business-basher?
My column in the FT this week is about Barack Obama’s attitude to business and whether the US president-elect is the business-friendly pragmatist he looks like or the business-bashing left-winger he sometimes sounds like. To US companies and business leaders, Barack Obama remains, despite the scrutiny to which he was subjected during his long slog to this week’s triumph, an enigma. Who is the new president? Is he the crisp non-ideological technocrat who ran a flawless campaign as surely as an up-and-coming star at General Electric or another big US multinational? The man with whom many chief executives instinctively feel they could do business? Or is he the community organiser from Chicago with tight links to unions, who railed against corporate profits in his campaign and vowed to alter the North American Free Trade Agreement? The left-winger who wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and puts equality above efficiency?

The Obama challenge
America wakes up today to a new era in its political history. And as Barack Obama prepares to take office, he will have to wrestle with these facts of life: the economy is either in recession or teetering on the brink of one, and the U.S. is embroiled in two wars. Across the Web, a plethora of voices are dissecting the campaign . In a BusinessWeek piece, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch makes his position clear, saying John McCain’s economic platform made better sense for business, and that business leaders could take away three lessons from the election: Have a clear, consistent vision; make few mistakes; and have friends in high places...

Indian Airline Defaults on Payments to GE
The king of good times has flown into fresh turbulence. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines has defaulted on payment of lease rentals to GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) for four A320s, according to a complaint filed by the US company with India's aviation regulator. Upset at the default, GECAS, one of the world's top aircraft lessors, has asked the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) for permission to repossess the aircraft and has demanded that the aircraft be de-registered from the airline...

Obama Pick: Buy GE as Obama brings good things to life
For me, today is a day of great optimism. I'm immensely relieved that Obama was elected President and I expect great things from him. In fact, I think his win could increase optimism about the future of America enough to give the economy a much-needed boost...

Recent News: Stock Performance, Immelt Comments, Earnings, Pickens, Wind Energy, Chinese Jetliners, and Treasury Investment

Traders Seek Protection Against Dips In GE Stock
Options traders appear to be taking a cautious approach to General Electric Co. (GE) as the company's shares hover near a 52-week low. Within the first hour of Monday's session, several traders emerged to take moderately bearish positions in General Electric, selling calls and buying puts...

General Electric (GE) NewsBite - GE Rises on CEO's Comments
General Electric (NYSE: GE) opened at $19.78. So far today, the stock has hit a low of $19.69 and a high of $19.88. GE is now trading at $19.72, up $0.21 (1.05%). Over the last 52 weeks the stock has ranged from a low of $17.27 to a high of $40.54. Shares of GE are trading higher this morning after company CEO Jeff Immelt said in an interview this morning that he expects the company to earn $20 billion...

GE CEO tells French newspaper firm to earn $20 billion this year
U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric Co will make $20 billion this year, its Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in an interview with French business daily Les Echos Monday, without specifying which measure of earnings he was refering to....

GE Set for a Pickens Windfall
General Electric sells more wind turbines, by far, than any other supplier in the nation. But it never sold 667 of them at once until legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens decided to build his own wind farm. His "Pickens Plan" calls for the U.S. to slash its dependence on foreign oil by exploiting its own natural resources instead. By using more wind to fuel its power plants and more natural gas to power its cars, Pickens predicts, the U.S. could cut its dependence on foreign oil by one-third in the next 10 years...

General Electric orders 25 China-made jetliners
General Electric Co. agreed to buy 25 Chinese-made regional jets Tuesday, marking the first overseas order for the aircraft and providing a major boost for the manufacturer. GE's leasing unit GECAS signed an agreement to purchase the 70-seater ARJ21-700 aircraft, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday....

GE says does not expect Treasury investment
General Electric Co does not expect the Treasury Department to offer to invest funds from a $700 billion fund to bail out the financial industry in its GE Capital arm, but would listen to a proposal if one were made, a GE spokesman said on Tuesday....

Recent News: Commercial paper, stock performance, earnings, batterys, innovation, annual shareholder meeting, and Immelt quote

GE Can't Shed Those Unwanted Pounds
There was a time not so long ago when it appeared that General Electric (NYSE: GE) was an undervalued conglomerate composed of numerous strong parts. But almost by the day it's become more likely that the company may be little more than a hodgepodge of ill-fitting businesses -- many of which it can't unload -- that are headed collectively for goodness-knows-where...

Cos Participating In US Govt's Commercial Paper Program
The following is a list of companies that have registered to participate in a program to allow companies to sell commercial paper to the Federal Reserve at a rate set daily plus a fee. The Commercial Paper Funding Facility is aimed at boosting the commercial paper market, where companies secure funding for day-to- day needs, from rent to inventory....

Gee Whiz GE!
General Electric investors were shocked late Wednesday when reports began circulating that the conglomerate’s chief executive said the company was looking to maintain its 2009 profit at 2008 levels, giving the entire stock market a kick in the teeth just as trading was ending for the day....

GE boosts bets on battery technology
With a 1914 electric car displayed outside, General Electric last week hosted a symposium on batteries for transportation and the electricity grid....

GE CEO: Cos Must Innovate Amid Current Environment
General Electric Co. (GE) Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said Wednesday companies must continue to emphasize research and development during the current financial crisis. They will need to innovate, especially in areas such as healthcare, education and renewable energy, he said....

Ugly Quote For GE
General Electric investors got a roller-coaster ride Wednesday afternoon following reports that the conglomerate's chief executive was looking to maintain its 2009 profit at 2008 levels....

GE to Convene 2009 Shareowners Meeting in Orlando, Florida
GE announced today that it plans to hold its 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareowners on April 22, 2009 in Orlando, Florida. GE gathers shareowners in a different city each year so as to demonstrate the performance of a different business and to illustrate the diversity and strength of the Company's business portfolio...

Dow Jones to issue "clarification" on GE story-source
Dow Jones Newswires plans to issue a "clarification" of a story that it published on Wednesday afternoon about comments that General Electric Co's chief executive made about the company's 2009 financial position, according to a source familiar with the matter....

GE calls Dow Jones Immelt report 'inaccurate'
A spokesman for General Electric Co said on Wednesday that a Dow Jones report quoting Chief Executive Jeff Immelt as forecasting flat profit in 2009 was "completely out of context and inaccurate."...

Recent News: Job & Cost Custs, Regulation, Economy, Dividend, Jack Welch and GE Oil & Gas

Report: GE will cut costs as it braces for 2009
The chief executive of General Electric Co. said Friday that the company is cutting costs as it braces for a difficult 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site. Jeff Immelt, in an interview at a conference at Columbia University in New York, said costs will be lower in 2009 than in 2008...

GE Will Cut Costs, Jobs, Immelt Says
General Electric Co. is cutting costs, preparing for a new wave of regulation from Washington and embracing manufacturing over financial services as ways out of the economic crisis, its chief executive said Friday. "Costs will be lower in 2009 than in 2008," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said in an interview. "That will be true across the board." Employment will also be lower, he said, declining to name numbers or percentages....

GE cuts costs, prepares for more regulation
General Electric Co is cutting costs and preparing for a wave of regulation from Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt, speaking at a Columbia Business School social-enterprise conference, said costs and employment would be lower in 2009 across the board, the newspaper reported. Immelt did not give numbers or percentages, the report said....

GE’s Immelt Sees Shrinking Economy for 2-3 Quarters
The U.S. economy will have two or three quarters of “negative growth” once global financial systems stabilize, General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said.
“You might have a two- or three-quarter negative growth and then a slow pullout,” Immelt said during a Webcast presentation for students at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “You’ve got this financial crisis going on, behind which is recession.”...

GE Needs Fed Bailout To Finance Operations; Dividend At Risk
GE is struggling to get short term financing at a price it wants to pay. So what does GE do? The answer is twofold...

GE to Cut Costs, Jobs: Report
General Electric plans to cut costs next year as it confronts the global economic slowdown, according to a published media report...

A SUCCESS STORY: Virtual unknown GE Oil & Gas now a star
In 2001, General Electric Co’s oil and gas business had only a few dozen employees in Houston and was a virtual unknown in the oil patch. “Our primary goal was just to get people to know who we were,” said Mat Castaneda, general manager of North American sales for GE Oil & Gas....

GE's former CEO Welch says economy will improve in 2009
Former General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch said the U.S. economy will start to improve in late 2009 after struggling for the next three quarters. "We are going to have some very tough times," Welch said on the ABC News "This Week" program. "The fourth quarter of this year could have negative growth in the three to four percent range."...

Recent News: Battery-powered jobs, Haier, NBC Universal, Ecomagination, and Fed facility

GE stepping up push for battery-powered cars General Electric Co. is stepping up its investment in developing new battery technologies for autos as it looks to increase its role in electrifying cars -- one of the key strategies to boost fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.....

China's Haier plays waiting game for GE unit
Haier, China's largest home appliance maker, plans not to bid for General Electric Co's appliances unit until it sees clear signs of a U.S. market recovery, said people with direct knowledge of the matter. A bid for GE's appliances business, which the U.S. giant put on the block in May, could be Haier's last opportunity to buy a household U.S. brand, part of its ambitions to reach global consumers rather than just Chinese....

NBC Universal Outlines 3% Budget Cut
NBC Universal is looking to shave $500 million from next year's budget, in a new sign that the broader economic crisis is likely to exact a stiff toll on the media sector. The General Electric Co. unit, which includes broadcast and cable-TV networks, local television stations and a movie studio, says the cuts will amount to 3% of its 2009 budget....

GE’s 2008 Ecomagination Revenues to Rise 21%, to $17 Billion
GE reports that, amidst global economic turbulence, revenues from its range of energy efficient and environmentally advantageous products and services will surge 21% to $17 billion in 2008, while GE’s annual investment in cleaner research and development will pass $1.4 billion....

GE plans to use Fed facility next week
General Electric Co. plans to use the Federal Reserve's new short-term funding facility when it is launched on Monday. The U.S. conglomerate and its finance arm, General Electric Capital Corp, have registered as users of the facility, the company told its commercial paper customers.....

Recent News: NBC Universal, Digital Cameras in Dubai, Clean Energy, Immelt Dismissal?, GE Medical, US Navy, and Stock Performance

NBC Universal to cut 3 percent of 2009 budget: report
NBC Universal, the broadcasting unit of General Electric Co, plans to cut $500 million from next year's budget, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday....

General Electric’s Pundits and Legacy Not Enough to Force a Turnaround (GE)
General Electric has had its defenders continuously go on CNBC (of which GE is the parent company) to make its case to investors that things are getting better, and that a bottom is imminent. Now, even after a 1200 point rally off the Dow’s bottom, GE is still little more than $1 off its recent 52-week low. We’re certainly not rooting against GE, but the prospects of the stock making a comeback at this point in the year seem very slim....

Dubai Electronics Show Marks Official Launch of GE Digital Cameras in Middle East
General Imaging, the worldwide exclusive licensee for GE digital cameras, is continuing its global expansion with a strong move into the Middle East. General Imaging is exhibiting through its Middle East distributor at this week's GITEX Shopper & Consumer Electronics Expo in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. General Imaging's founder, CEO and Chairman Hiroshi "Hugh" Komiya, and Rene Buhay, Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing, are taking part in a press event there on Tuesday. ...

Clean Energy Meltdown: Now GE’s Bailing
Meltdown watch, continued. Capital is quickly drying up for new clean-energy projects, and what is available costs more, throwing a wrench into companies’ plans to expand renewable energy.
General Electric is the latest to throw in the towel, after the abrupt departure of Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. The conglomerate, which makes energy gear like wind and gas turbines as well as underwriting renewable-energy projects, says it is bailing out of the clean-tech investment game for now...

GE's Board of Directors Should Dismiss CEO Jeff Immelt, Says the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX); Immelt's Failed Leadership Hurts Shareholders
The board of directors of the General Electric Company should immediately dismiss Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt says Action Fund Management, the investment adviser to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX), a publicly-traded mutual fund. AFM urges GE's board to take immediate action because after years of failed leadership on the part of Immelt, the company is in disarray and its stock is in freefall....

GE Medical CEO talks about the company's business strategy
The key to effective early health monitoring is a strong front end in diagnostics and in molecular imaging -- an area where GE Healthcare has a strategy in place, GE Medical Diagnostics CEO John Chiminski said in an interview with BTM Exchange. The acquisition of U.K.-based firm Amersham, which specializes in radiopharmaceuticals, was crucial in implementing GE Medical Diagnostics' corporate strategy and paved the way for the company...

GE Marine power for LHA 6
GE Marine LM2500+ marine aeroderivative gas turbines have been selected by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB), Pascagoula, Miss., to power the United States Navy's new LHA 6 amphibious assault ship....

General Electric Further To Fall, Says Market Timer Frank Kollar
There are two possible scenarios for shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE). The first is that a bottom is in around $19.00 a share (closing price). The second is quite bearish. GE is now well below its 2002 bear market lows. Typically when a stock breaks below a long-term support level, it reaches the next support level before a new bottom can be made. The next support level is all the way down at $16.50, which is the 127.2% retracement of the entire 2002-2007 advance. ...

GE sees strength in environmental business
The credit crisis and weakening economy are not crimping General Electric Co.'s environmental business, the industrial and commercial conglomerate said Tuesday....

Recent News: GE Energy, Jenbacher Engine, China, GE Healthcare, and Spinoff on Hold

GE Energy announces opening of new Jenbacher gas engine packaging operation in China GE Energy, a business unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), announced on Thursday (16 October) that the company's Jenbacher gas engine business, a manufacturer of gas-fuelled reciprocating engines, packaged generator sets and cogeneration systems for power generation, has opened a new regional engine packaging operation at GE's manufacturing centre in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province in southeast China....

How GE Healthcare Transformed Its Business Technology Strategy
Up until 2004, GE Medical (the name it was known by) primarily developed and manufactured medical devices, such as X-ray machines, and computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging devices. In the early 2000s, GE Medical developed a strategy to move beyond being a diagnostic imaging or a diagnostic systems provider, and toward becoming a healthcare company. Specifically, the strategy looked at early health, focusing on early diagnosis, intervention, and prevention. Their $6 billion acquisition of Amersham, a UK-based company, became key to GE Medical's strategy. Amersham was a global leader in life sciences and diagnostic imaging agents, which medical scanners use to highlight specific body parts for diseases....

Economic Crisis Puts GE Spinoff on Hold
If any benefit comes from the economic crisis, Decatur's General Electric employees may be the ones to experience it. In its earnings call for the third quarter, GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said the sale or spinoff of the appliances division, which includes the Decatur plant, is on hold....

Recent News: Steel Mill Financing, Commercial Paper Subsidies, Commercial Properties, Locomotives in Kazakhstan, China, and Jim Cramer - Warren Buffet

GE unit increases steel mill financing by $100M
GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending, a unit of General Electric Co., announced Wednesday it will increase its financing of a Mississippi steel mill by $100 million...

Fed Offers GE, Citigroup Commercial Paper Subsidies
The Federal Reserve may subsidize U.S. companies by buying their short-term debt at rates below those demanded by private investors in the $1.6 trillion commercial-paper market. Fed officials yesterday set the yield they will pay for commercial paper at about 1.1 percentage points less than the average cost for financial companies, weekly central bank data show. Policy makers last week announced emergency plans to buy the securities after the market shrank to a three-year low...

GE's 'Honey Pot' Properties Turn Sour
When the real-estate market was booming, General Electric Co.'s commercial-property business earned the nickname "the honey pot" among insiders because the company could increase earnings simply by selling a building or two. But now, the opposite is true: GE's difficulty selling its office buildings, shopping centers and other commercial property is dragging down its financial results....

GE plans to build trains in Kazakhstan
The Kazakh venture of General Electric Co. plans to produce as many as 200 locomotives a year starting in 2011. GE, the world's largest maker of locomotives, and AO Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Co., the country's state-owned rail company, plan to produce up to 100 train engines a year starting in 2009 at a new $750 million plant in the capital Astana, Temir Zholy said Tuesday....

GE private equity arm holding off on new China buys
A private equity unit of General Electric said on Thursday that it would focus on its existing investment portfolio in China rather than investing in new projects over the next 2-3 years amid poor market conditions. Zhu Wenqian, head of private equity and business development, Greater China at GE Commercial Finance, said asset managers and investors would have to prepare for "a sustained war" before the markets start to recover....

Crisis stresses in-house lending of U.S. companies
Increasing signs of stress at the finance arm of General Electric Co has triggered some concerns about other companies with in-house lending units and their ability to weather the financial crisis....

Cramer: Sure, Buffett Can Afford to Buy Here
Great to see Warren Buffett buying here. Fabulous. He has a lot of firepower. He is right to buy American. And I want to go with him, except, he's been buying for awhile, and, more important, he can be down 20% to 30% and it doesn't matter...

Recent News: Stock Performance, Commercial Paper Demand, Green Energy Policy, and Solar Panels

GE shares decline for 2nd consecutive day
Shares of General Electric Co. declined Tuesday for the second consecutive day as the Dow Jones industrial average continued to advance. An analyst on Monday reduced his earnings estimate, saying the conglomerate's profits are uncertain. Robert T. Cornell of Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) Capital lowered his fourth-quarter earnings per share estimate to 52 cents from 55 cents and cut his 2009 earnings per share estimate to $1.75 from $1.80.

Demand for Some Commercial Paper Jumps
After being severely constricted for weeks, the commercial paper market showed tentative signs of recovery on Tuesday after global leaders aimed a number of initiatives at stabilizing financial markets. On Tuesday, the U.S. government said it would inject $250 billion into ailing banks and guarantee bank debt for up to three years, and it unveiled details on a program specifically targeted at the commercial paper market....

At HBS, GE's Immelt, Other Big Shots Demand Greener Energy Policy
My colleague, Cathy Arnst, is up at a Harvard B-school confab this week and sent in the following snapshot. Big business leaders are clamoring for strong green investment policies from the next administration. In Cathy’s words: GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt came out of the managed economy closet this morning. In front of some 1,600 business people at Harvard Business School (HBS), the citadel of capitalism, he had this to say about federal government investment in environmental technologies in order to create jobs...

CORRECTED - GE, Convexa fund solar panel maker Soliant
GE Energy Financial Services, announced on Tuesday it has added $2.5 million, part of a venture capital round that funded nearly $21 million for concentrator solar panel manufacturer Soliant Energy. Leading the round of investors was Convexa Capital....

Recent News: Fed Cash, Buy Rating, Dow Rally, Immelt on Leadership, and GE buying in India

GE Eschews - Or Does It Seek? - Access To Fed Cash
How can you tell when General Electric is prevaricating about the status of its capital position? Answer: when you can see its CFO’s lips moving. On Friday, the conglomerate’s finance chief admitted the company had reviewed the way the Federal Reserve was conducting its purchase of commercial paper. Then quickly insisted that GE was capable of completely funding itself, and would have no need to seek recourse to a government buyer-of-last-resort funding instument...

General Electric "buy," target price reduced
Analyst Stephen A O’Neil of Hilliard Lyons maintains his "buy" rating on General Electric Co (GE), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price has been reduced from $30 to $25....

General Electric (GE) Not Participating In Today's Rally
For some reason General Electric is not participating in today's 600 point rally. Shares of GE are down 4% today to $20.63. GE did rise 13% on Friday, so it could have something to do with that....

GE’s Jeff Immelt on leadership renewal
Former Harvard MBA Jeff Immelt just delighted a packed conference hall (actually a big tent) with his observations about the need for leaders to renew themselves. “You’ve got to be able to do this,” he said. “Leadership is really a journey into yourself. I take every criticism personally, I think about them, and I go to bed at night thinking: ‘Oh God, what a failure I am.’ And then I wake up in the morning and I say: ‘Hello, handsome!’ ”...

What Credit Crunch? GE wants to buy in India
Even as the financial world seems to be crumbling and General Electric’s profits are headed south, the company may be looking for acquisitions in India. The other day my colleague Mehul Srivastava and I met with GE India boss Tejpreet Chopra. He sketched out an ambitious plan to boost the company’s revenues in the country to $8 billion by 2010 or 2011, from $2.6 billion today. “There will be some element of acquisitions in meeting our (sales) targets,” Chopra said...

Recent News: NBC Olympics, Earnings, Stock Performance, Finance Arm, and Warren Buffett

NBC loses money on Beijing Olympics
NBC Universal lost money on the Beijing Olympics, executives of parent company General Electric said Friday....

GE’s Quality of Earnings Problems
General Electric, a bellwether stock for the US economy, reported a 12% drop in third quarter earnings, as the credit crisis continues to hammer its finance unit, GE Capital, a big profit driver for the industrial conglomerate. On closer examination, GE’s earnings report has a number quality of earnings issues. Investors should sit up and take notice of the danger zones...

GE Rises Most Since 1980 as Profit Meets Estimates
General Electric Co. rose 13 percent in New York trading, the most in at least 28 years, after its third-quarter profit matched analysts' estimates during the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression. Profit from continuing operations fell 12 percent to $4.48 billion, or 45 cents a share, from $5.11 billion, or 50 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 11 percent to $47.2 billion, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said today. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said GE will meet its 2008 forecast...

GE profit battered by finance arm
General Electric profit declined for a third straight quarter because of lower earnings at its finance arm during the ongoing financial crisis. Profit from continuing operations fell 12% to $US4.48 billion ($6.9 billion), or 45 cents a share, from $US5.11 billion, or 50 cents, a year earlier, matching analysts' average estimate. Sales rose 11% to $US47.2 billion, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said Friday. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said GE will meet its 2008 profit forecast....

GE's Financial Dead Arm
General Electric reported its earnings Friday, and the results were unsurprising. They met Wall Street's expectations and were defined by weakness in its financial arm, which has been hit by problems globally and in the credit markets. GE's profit dropped 23.2% to $4.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, from $5.6 billion, or 54 cents per share, reported in last year's corresponding quarter. The results were just short of Wall Street's expected 45 cents per share....

Investing Like Buffett
IF this were the 1930s, we might go to the movies and see a gaudy, escapist musical to feel better again. Instead, let’s pretend we’re Warren Buffett...

Bad News Is Good News For GE
General Electric had primed the market for a crummy third-quarter earnings report, so investors weren't too surprised when one came on Friday. There was some unexpected good news from its media division, but the cloud inside that silver lining was that the better-than-expected results were a direct reflection of the direr-than-expected global economy....

GE makes a profit, but it's lower
General Electric Co.’s third-quarter net income fell by 22 percent amid a decrease in earnings in its GE Capital financial services unit, which has been affected by the ongoing credit crunch.
Fairfield, Conn.-based GE (NYSE: GE) today reported that net income declined to $4.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, compared with $5.6 billion, or 54 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier...

What Does Warren Buffett See in General Electric?
By all accounts, the legendary investor has entered less-than-familiar territory. General Electric (GE) and Goldman Sachs (GS) will most certainly determine whether Mr. Buffett's unique ability to pick business models with substantial inherent upside is still intact or whether the dramatic changes in the global economy are forcing him to fish in troubled waters. GE's Keith Sherin has just announced a worldwide upgrading of lending standards. But he did not clarify two important and related issues. Will this upgrading, or tightening, of GE's portfolio be founded in a revaluation of the assets which triggered the loans in the first place? And, if so, how will the almost-certain degradation of such assets impact upon GE's AAA rating?...

Seeking Alpha: General Electric Company Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator:
Welcome to the General Electric third quarter 2008 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the program over to your host for today’s conference Trevor Schauenberg, VP of Investor Communications.

Trevor Schauenberg:
Joanna Morse and I are pleased to host today’s call. Hopefully you have the press release from earlier this morning and the slides we’ll be walking through are available on our website at www.GE.com. If you don’t see it please refresh, you can download or print to follow along. As always elements of this presentation are forward looking and are based on our best view of the world and our businesses as we see them today. Those elements can change as the world changes. Please interpret them in that light.
We will be reviewing the GE press release that went out earlier today and have time for Q&A at the end. For today’s webcast we have our Chairman and CEO, Jeff Immelt, and our Vice Chairman and CFO, Keith Sherin.
Now I’d like to turn it over to our Chairman and CEO, Jeff Immelt.

Jeff Immelt:
On the overview page clearly to everyone the environment remains very volatile. The global financial system is tough. We see consumer confidence falling, unemployment up again last week but we still see pockets...

Read Entire Transcript at Seeking Alpha

Recent News: GE Aviation - NASA, Stock Performance, Earnings Preview, and Technical Analysis

GE Aviation team wins NASA research contract GE Aviation's team is one of several aeronautical companies sharing $12.4 million in NASA study contracts to research future aircraft designs. Under phase one of the program, the teams will each receive about $2 million to conduct 18-month studies, according to a United Press International story. They will be studying advanced concepts in fuel efficiency, among other things...

Foolish Forecast: You Can't Go Wrong With GE
General Electric (NYSE: GE) is heading into its third-quarter earnings report in a very unusual position. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) guru Warren Buffett just stepped in with a multibillion-dollar investment in the beaten-down giant. Is that enough to turn the tide of woe, or will Tina Fey have to save the day?...

Earnings Preview: General Electric
General Electric (GE) is expected to report Q3 earnings before market open Friday, Oct. 10, with a conference call scheduled for 8:30 am ET. Analysts are looking for EPS of 45c on revenue of $47.71B. There is a tight consensus range of 44c to 45c for EPS, and $45.5B to $48.9B for revenue, according to First Call. The company gave guidance when it reported its Q2 results in July expecting Q3 EPS 50c to 54c vs. consensus of 54c, and FY08 EPS $2.20 to $2.30 vs. consensus of $2.22. However, on September 25, due to the "unprecedented weakness" in the financial service markets the company lowered is Q3 and FY08 EPS guidance. General Electric now expects Q3 EPS of 43c to 48c, and FY08 EPS of $1.95 to $2.10...

Technical Analysis for General Electric
The technical indicators for GE are almost resoundingly bearish, but not completely. There is a glimmer of light, albeit faint, in the chart patterns for GE. General Electric is the grand-daddy of them all, and an excellent barometer of economic and market conditions. The recent concerns offered by GE's management relating to the current depressionary environment have raised many eyebrows, and they have exponentialized the importance of the commentary associated with the earnings release scheduled for Friday. Arguably, cases can be made for fundamental investments in GE...

Can GE Earnings Rescue the Market?
We are set for earnings out of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) early Friday morning. If you have been watching the tape and if you have been paying attention to the economic data, it is impossible to expect and solid earnings from the world's largest conglomerate. There are also more things to consider here than just the earnings as GE reflects much of the global economy....

Wall Street crisis hits GE
All eyes will be on GE on Friday when the massive conglomerate and market bellwether reveals earnings that have been hard-hit by recent turmoil in the financial markets...

Recent News: Stock Performance, Dividend Cut?, Warren Buffet, and Berkshire Hathaway

General Electric (GE) Lower Again On Fears
After trading higher earlier, General Electric Co. is lower again. The stock is trading at $20.63, down 3.5%. The 52-week low is $19.69. GE recently had that large stock offering at $22.25, which is now underwater....

General Electric May be Next to Cut its Dividend (GE)
General Electric (GE) has said it would like to continue paying out its current dividend, but questions abound as to whether that will be possible, given the company’s capital concerns...

GE shares recover after plunging to 11-year low
Shares of General Electric Co. staged a recovery Tuesday after plunging to their lowest price in more than 11 years. The industrial and commercial conglomerate's stock price advanced 59 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $21.97 in midday trading. A day earlier, the stock tumbled as low as $19.69 before rebounding to finish at $21.38. Monday's session was traumatic for the broader market, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average - of which GE is a component - dived as much as 800 points, dipping below 10,000 for the first time in four years...

Why I’m buying
The market is in free fall. Friends are calling and emailing in a panic. My response: I’m buying. Investors today seem as fearful as they’ve been since, perhaps, the Great Depression. And as Warren Buffett once famously said: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”..

Warren Buffett's Celebrity-Style Endorsements of GE & Goldman Aren't Helping the Stocks ... Yet
Warren Buffett's celebrity-style endorsements of General Electric and Goldman Sachs haven't paid off in higher stock prices for the two companies -- at least not yet.Buffett's words of praise for GE and Goldman were featured prominently in the announcements of Berkshire Hathaway's $5 billion investment in Goldman on September 23 and its $3 billion injection into General Electric on October 1...

Buffett Buys GE, Goldman: Should You Follow?
While I was sitting at my desk on Wednesday, I heard Chris Rowe marvel, “Warren Buffett is such a stud.” Now, Chris does have a slight man-crush on Warren, but he’s also happily married with baby number two on the way. So I figured that Buffett must have just pulled off a major coup....

Recent News: Tina Fey, GE Aviation new CEO Lorraine Bolsinger, Stock Performance, Warren Buffet, and Wind

Watch Tina Fey Save General Electric
In her hilarious 30 Rock sitcom, Tina Fey skewers the network politics of NBC. Ironically enough, she may be (almost singlehandedly) saving the broadcaster, too. The season premiere of 30 Rock is still several weeks away, but Fey is already giving NBC a huge ratings boost with her spot-on Sarah Palin impersonations on Saturday Night Live...

General Electric names Lorraine Bolsinger CEO of GE Aviation systems - Update
Monday, General Electric Co., announced the appointment of Lorraine Bolsinger as President and Chief executive officer of GE Aviation systems, LLC. The company also named Steve Fludder as head of ecomagination, succeeding Bolsinger...

Let's See If GE Cuts It
Of course, it'll be tough to match the newsworthiness of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) injection of $3 billion into General Electric in exchange for perpetual preferred stock. That deal followed hard behind a similar Buffett investment of $5 billion into Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). But what induced Warren's GE purchase? What is it about the company that he finds especially attractive -- other than GE shares' nearly 50% plunge from their 52-week high? One silver lining: Several of GE's areas are at or near the top of their respective lines of business, including...

Shares of GE fall to 11-year low
Shares of General Electric Co. hovered at around $20 Monday, the lowest point in more than 11 years as a sell-off pulled down broader markets. The share price of the industrial and commercial conglomerate, a bellwether of the U.S. economy, has slid steadily since the financial crisis hit Wall Street last month. On Sept. 25, GE cut its earnings forecast for the year, blaming volatile financial markets damaging the profitability of its loan and lease business that accounts for almost half its income....

Worrying New Disclosures From GE
Last Wednesday, the same day General Electric announced that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway planned to invest $3 bn in the conglomerate and that it planned a new $12 bn stock offering, GE shot a little noticed filing over to the Securities and Exchange Commission that gave fresh detail on the unhealthy state of the company....

Shares of GE fall to 11-year low
Shares of General Electric Co. hovered at around $20 Monday, the lowest point in more than 11 years as a sell-off pulled down broader markets. The share price of the industrial and commercial conglomerate, a bellwether of the U.S. economy, dropped sharply in April after GE widely missed its earnings target for the first quarter. It continued its slide last month as investors fled most financial companies....

Commodities Continue Slide; GE Trips South Of $20
General Electric is generally regarded, for better or worse, as a bellwether for the global economy. Not an auspicious moniker to have, when the global economy seemed to be tettering on the brink of recession, something GE tacitly admitted last month when it warned that its quarter wasn’t going to live up to forecasts. Last week’s decision to raise $12 billion...

Buffett Buys GE, Goldman. Should You?
While I was sitting at my desk on Wednesday, I heard Chris Rowe marvel, “Warren Buffett is such a stud.” Now, Chris does have a slight man-crush on Warren, but he’s also happily married with baby number two on the way. So I figured that Buffett must have just pulled off a major coup. Sure enough, I looked at the news and saw that Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) had invested $3 billion in General Electric (GE) preferred stock carrying a 10% dividend. Buffett also secured the option of picking up another $3 billion worth of GE common stock at $22.25 a share over the next five years. GE stock closed at $24.50 on Oct. 1. For average Joe investor, GE’s dividend yield is around 5%. ...

GE bullish over wind forecast
Given that Germany has the highest installed wind capacity in the world at about 23,000MW, it is not surprising to learn that US engineering giant GE Power's main renewables facility is sited in the country. Located in Salzbergen, close to the border with the Netherlands, and capable of producing 1,600 wind turbines a year, the facility is GE's so-called centre of excellence for wind energy. While GE is obviously proud of the facility and the investment it has put into it, the site has a rather dubious heritage, having been acquired in a bankruptcy sale following the spectacular collapse of power industry pariah Enron in 2002. However, according to GE Power's vice president of renewables, Victor Abate, the company has made significant improvements to the Salzbergen factory and the wider wind business it acquired....

Recent News: Class Action Lawsuit, GE Honda, and GE Healthcare

The Rosen Law Firm Files Securities Class Action Charging General Electric Company With Violations of the Federal Securities Laws -- GE
The Rosen Law Firm today announced that it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all purchasers of General Electric Company common stock and call option during the period beginning September 25, 2008 through and including October 1, 2008. To join the GE class action, go to the website at http://rosenlegal.com or call Laurence Rosen, Esq. or Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email lrosen@rosenlegal.com or pkim@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.

NBAA 2008: Tough testing for GE Honda powerplant
Work on GE Honda’s HF120 advanced 2,000lb thrust turbofan propulsion system is proceeding apace – with formal certification testing still on target to begin at the turn of the year. This year has been all about design validation, according to GE Honda’s president Bill Dwyer, who says the new engine will give great customer value in terms of “price point, weight, fuel efficiency and maintenance costs”....

Curing What Ails GE's Health Unit
GE Healthcare sells machines that discover why people are sick. The General Electric Co. unit's new chief executive, John Dineen, now must cure what ails the business. The division has been plagued by factory-production glitches that led to a federally ordered plant shutdown, an aborted acquisition and shrinking insurance payments that crimp demand for GE's products. The unit's operating profit fell 4% in the first half of 2008, after declining 3% last year. This summer the division laid off hundreds of workers...

Recent News: Warren Buffett, Stock Offering, Stock Performance, and Ratings Cut

Chasing Value: General Electric is screaming to me!
The market is bouncing around with every bit of news leaked from the Congress as well as company warnings and Federal reports. 'My pal Warren' is frequently being asked his opinion about the stock market and his 'stock answer' is that he ignores the overall market and its daily gyrations and focuses on individual investments and price (value)....

General Electric still slides on Warren Buffett backing
Shares in General Electric fell another 10 per cent yesterday as Wall Street ignored the backing Warren Buffett has given the company and braced itself for a full-scale banking crisis. On Wednesday, Mr Buffett bought $3 billion (£1.7 billion) of GE preferred shares through Berkshire Hathaway, his investment vehicle. He acquired the stock at $22.25 each. At the same time, GE, one of the world’s largest conglomerates, sold another 548 million shares at the same price to other investors. On Wall Street yesterday, GE shares were trading at $22.12, just below the fundraising offer price...

Bet on Warren Buffett, not on slogans
THERE’S only one set of people that finance firms have thrown money at more willingly than subprime borrowers in recent years and that’s ad execs. And a fat lot of good it’s done them. Even in these straitened times, they are seldom off the TV and their spots are seldom anything other than awful. At the moment there’s a particularly horrid series for E-Trade featuring a baby day trader getting freaky with his girlfriend via text message. “Bad girl,” he says and shivers. Me too. Makes me feel abused every time it’s on...

Buffett Sees the Light in GE
Some stocks are labeled bellwethers for good reason. General Electric, the huge conglomerate whose reach extends into industry, health care, media and financial services, has long been considered a barometer for the economy. These days, for better or worse, the company is emblematic of the problems roiling the financial markets overall and financial firms in particular. ..

GE Needs to Shed More Light
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, GENERAL ELECTRIC (ticker: GE) announced plans to offer at least $12 billion of common stock to the public. The announcement comes on the heels of saying on Sept. 25 when asked about issuing new equity that "we just don't see it right now."...

Ahead of the Bell: Analyst cuts forecast for GE
An analyst Friday reduced his earnings forecast for General Electric Co. for 2008 and the next two years, but said the conglomerate's share offering of $12.2 billion and another $3 billion in warrants to Warren Buffett affects only the fourth quarter....

GE shares slide after secondary stock offering
General Electric Co. shares fell as much as 10 percent on Thursday, touching a new 5-1/2-year low, as its sale of $15 billion in new stock to investors including Warren Buffett failed to soothe Wall Street worries. GE shares have tumbled about 40 percent this year as the global credit crunch has taken a heavy toll on its hefty finance arm and the company warned that 2008 profit could drop 12 percent....

Recent News: Stock Offering and Warren Buffett

GE Offering Could Become Big U.S. Score for Deutsche Bank General Electric’s decision to sell $12 billion in common stock to the public is the best news Deutsche Bank’s equities team has heard in nearly two years. General Electric is selling $12 billion in common stock to the public and $3bn in perpetual preferred stock to Berkshire Hathaway, in what could be the largest US issuance of common shares featuring Deutsche Bank as one of the bookrunners...

Praise for General Electric, but dilution questioned
While much of the market is staying on the sidelines with cash in hand, Warren Buffett has made some major investments in names like Constellation Energy Group Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and now General Electric Co. His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. announced plans to purchase US$3-billion in perpetual preferred GE stock and warrants to buy 134.8 million common shares at any time in the next five years. The price tag was set at US$22.25 a share, below GE's market price and nearly half of where it was trading a year ago. GE is also offering at least US$12-billion in common shares to the public...

Buffett’s Bet on G.E.: Almost as Good as a Bailout
Warren E. Buffett is emerging as the banker of choice to the embattled blue-chip companies of American business. Mr. Buffett, the billionaire investor, announced on Wednesday that he would invest $3 billion in General Electric, the industrial giant that is also the nation’s largest nonbank financial company. The move comes eight days after he said he would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs...

GE Pays Now For Profit Later
General Electric is making its shareholders suffer some short-term pain for what it hopes will be long-term gain. The conglomerate on Thursday priced a secondary stock offering at a significant discount to its Wednesday close, pushing down the outstanding shares but giving the company a dollop of capital that will reduce its dependence on the stressed-out commercial paper market...

Why Buffett Likes GE
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, continues to use his firm's whopping cash balance to make investments into some of the most prized, and beaten down, American companies.
What will Buffett buy next? Click here for a free trial of the Validea Hot List with buys based on strategies of Buffett, Graham, Lynch and more. Buffett announced another deal this week: He's purchasing $3 billion worth of perpetual preferred stock in General Electric...

Recent News: Warren Buffet to invest in GE and GE Credit Risks

Berkshire Takes $3 Billion Stake in General Electric Following up on the firm's $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will be taking a $3 billion stake in General Electric Co. in a similarly structured private offering. As in the Goldman deal, Berkshire (NYSE: BRK) will be entitled to a 10% dividend on the newly issued $3 billion of perpetual preferred shares, which are callable by GE

Warren Buffett invests in General Electric
General Electric Co. is stocking up on cash, and Warren Buffett will be making a big deposit. The world’s second-largest company says it will sell at least $12 billion in common stock in a secondary public offering. Separately, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will buy $3 billion in preferred General Electric stock....

What Buffett May Be Missing at GE
General Electric plans to sell $3 bn in preferred stock to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and raise at least $12 bn more by selling stock to the public, at potentially $22.25 to $22.50 each. The preferred shares have a 10% dividend, and are...

Buffett to Invest $3 Billion in G.E.
Warren E. Buffett is again buying into the bluest of blue-chip companies — at a steep discount. This time, the famed investor is buying $3 billion in perpetual preferred stock from General Electric, the conglomerate seeking to allay concerns about its financial health amid the whipsawing markets....

GE to raise $15 billion, Buffett gets preferred stake
General Electric Co plans to raise $15 billion through stock sales -- including $3 billion from Warren Buffett -- to improve liquidity and give it the option of more acquisitions at a time of intense market turmoil, the U.S. conglomerate said on Wednesday...

GE to sell $12 billion of stock; Buffett to take stake
It is the second time in as many weeks that Buffett has been tapped by one of America's marquee companies for capital. Through his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett is investing as much as $10 billion in Goldman Sachs Co. to help the venerable investment bank navigate its way through the global credit crunch....

GE Defends Health as Credit Risk Widens, Shares Fall
General Electric Co. said it has been able to sell corporate paper and fund operations without tapping bank lines, seeking to quash speculation that led to a surge in its credit default swaps and a slump in the stock. "We see no reason for the defaults widening,'' Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE said in a statement today. "Despite current market disruptions, our CP funding has gone smoothly. We have over-funded every day, including today, with good demand for our paper in term maturities.''

Recent News: Toasters Recalled, Agility Healthcare Purchase, Stock Buyback Program, and GE Oil and Gas Pipeline

General Electric toasters recalled
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of General Electric toasters due to a shock and fire hazard. Importer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Ark., has received 140 reports of short circuits in the toasters causing sparks or fires, the commission said in a statement.

General Electric buys health care tech company
General Electric Co.'s GE Healthcare unit said Tuesday it bought privately-held Agility Healthcare Solutions in move to expand its software offerings which help hospitals coordinate patient care...

Here, There and Everywhere
Also last week, General Electric – a key company for U.S. employment and stock portfolios – shocked markets when it suspended a stock buyback program and indicated it may not boost its dividend in 2009 for the first time since 1976...

GE Oil & Gas' PII Pipeline Solutions Expands Staff and Engineering Services in Calgary for Canadian Operators
GE Oil & Gas has expanded its PII Pipeline Solutions technical staff and engineering analysis services in Calgary on behalf of Canadian pipeline operators. GE increased its pipeline data analysis department by 17 people in 2008 and its integrity engineering department to nine, full-time desk engineers, including a data software engineer to enable the newly enhanced levels of pipeline support services for its Canadian customers....

GE Healthcare Acquires Agility Healthcare Solutions, Broadening Capabilities to Help Hospitals Improve Their Performance
GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company announced today that it has acquired the privately held Agility Healthcare Solutions of Glen Allen, Virginia. Financial terms were not disclosed. Agility Healthcare Solutions provides unique and innovative products that transform hospital workflow and patient care management...

Barron's: Follow-Up - It's Time to Buy General Electric

FOLLOW UP
It's Time to Buy General Electric
A return to topics discussed in earlier issues

GENERAL ELECTRIC'S FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE CONTINUES to disappoint, with the conglomerate reducing earnings guidance last week for the second time this year. At 25, however, its shares look cheap enough to buy. GE's "operations have improved since 2000, but there has been a dramatic contraction of valuation," says Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, N.H....

Recent News: GE Healthcare, Jack Welch, Defense Department Contract, Outlook, Jeff Immelt, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal. Iraq Power, Global Growth

GE enters home health care monitoring market
GE Healthcare, a business of General Electric Co., is entering a potential $5 billion international market providing health monitors for the elderly who live alone. GE Healthcare announced Wednesday an agreement with privately held Living Independently Group Inc., a provider of a wireless monitoring system to distribute monitors to seniors and develop new applications....

Former GE Boss Jack Welch Predicts Deep Economic Downturn
Former General Electric Co. chairman and chief executive Jack Welch said Wednesday that the U.S. was in for "one hell of a deep downturn." He urged swift and decisive action to confront the current financial crisis, expressing support for the $700-billion financial relief package proposed by the Bush administration....

GE gets $15M engine contract by Defense Department
The Defense Department has awarded a $15 million contract to a division of General Electric Co. for work on aircraft engine parts....

General Electric revises 3Q, full-year outlook
General Electric has lowered its outlook for third-quarter and full-year earnings, citing unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. The company also has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining a 'AAA' credit rating, and is taking steps to bolster its capital and liquidity position....

Immelt: Things Will Turn Around
After dropping more than 4% in early trading, GE shares were up nearly 4% at midday, after General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said the credit storm has been rough on the company but won't sink it. Immelt emphasized during a (General Electric-owned) CNBC appearance that his company is "not in the credit default swap business," helping to alleviate fears--for now--that the company's problems with its GE Capital unit will plague it for the long haul...

Jeff Zucker says GE committed to NBC Uni
NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker reiterated the strength of parent GE's commitment to the media company Friday, calling it "profound" despite the recent financial turmoil and the profit warning issued Thursday by GE."I think it's looking at it backwards," he said, when asked whether GE was under renewed pressure to sell NBC because of the tightening of liquidity in financial markets....

Generally Weaker GE
GENERAL ELECTRIC PREANNOUNCED third-quarter earnings per share Thursday with a new range of 43 cents-48 cents down from prior guidance of 50 cents-54 cents. The company also lowered fiscal 2008 EPS guidance to $1.95-$2.10 from $2.20-$2.30....

Iraq signs bln-dollar power deals with GE, Siemens
Iraq has signed preliminary deals worth billions of dollars with General Electric Co and Siemens for equipment to almost double electricity generation capacity, an energy official said on Saturday....

GE gets cautious
When Jack Welch said his protégé, Jeff Immelt, was "getting his ass kicked" following a profit warning this year, the General Electric boss could console himself by pointing to a steady rise in cash returns to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Yesterday's warning, accompanied by the suspension of buybacks and the first dividend freeze in 32 years, leaves Mr Immelt under more pressure than at any time since he took the reins in 2001....

GE: Betting on a Global Growth Story
Buying GE (GE)...safe 5% yield and 10 times earnings....picked up some for $24.77 a share Friday morning. I first became really interested in GE when shares hit $23 and change but did not pull the trigger. On Thursday, GE lowered guidance for the quarter and the year. Not a real surprise given conditions out there but two questions I had were answered. Was the dividend safe, and was its 'AAA' rating safe? The answer to both was yes....

Recent News: GE branded TVs, GE's 'boring' assets, Bernanke and Paulson, Inflation, and Analyst Dowdgrades

GE-branded TVs make a comeback
More than two decades after exiting the television manufacturing business, General Electric Co. is entering a new joint partnership that will make GE-branded flat panel TVs that connect to the Internet. The giant conglomerate is granting the use of its brand for 10 years and taking a 49 percent stake in the venture with Tatung Co. of Taiwan to make liquid crystal displays that also play Internet videos....

GE, Taiwan's Tatung team up on HDTVs
US conglomerate General Electric announced on Tuesday that it had entered into a joint venture with Taiwan's Tatung Co. to produce innovative high-definition television sets. The joint venture, General Displays & Technologies (GDT), will "design, market and service GE-branded HDTVs" with the first sets hitting the market early next year, GE said in a statement....

Stormy Weather, Sunny Outlook For Rails; GE Touts ‘Boring’
It’s come to this: that financial services companies have to defend their portfolios by describing their asset mix as some version of American cheese on white bread with the crusts cut off. All in the service of blunting any worries that the exotic equals the suspicious in the minds of contemporary investors. Still, even going the Lake Woebogone route doesn’t always insulate a portfolio from the skeptics. Take General Electric (GE): the industrial conglomerate / slash / financial services giant (the latter operations fund nearly half the company’s profits these days) insisted in a Wall Street Journal article that its financial arm was loaded up with ”boring” assets...

US STOCKS-Financial worries, GE push Wall Street lower
U.S. stocks fell in choppy trading on Tuesday, led by a drop in shares of General Electric and lingering worries about the financial sector that derailed an advance spearheaded by technology companies....

Bernanke and Paulson, Google, GE, inflation
U.S. equity indices are slightly lower this morning. S&P 500 futures eased 1 point before the opening. Traders are waiting for testimonies by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in front of the Senate banking committee starting at 9:30 AM EDT. Several Democrat senators are expressing skepticism about the proposed rescue bill. Chances of approval of the bill by the end of this week have become diminished. Also, the bill could be “Christmas treed” with additional issues not directly related to the rescue program...

Opening View: General Electric Downgraded on Earnings Concerns
U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, pointing to a potentially negative start to the day. Taking a look at currencies and commodities, the greenback is higher against most of its foreign rivals, as gold and crude futures have pared recent gains. In focus this morning is the upcoming testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the latest earnings from homebuilder Lennar Corp. (LEN), a downgrade for blue chip General Electric (GE), and a warning for Washington Mutual (WM)...

General Electric cut to neutral by Merrill Lynch
General Electric Company was downgraded to neutral from buy and its price target slashed to $28 from $37.50 by Merrill Lynch, with the broker cutting its earnings estimate for...

Recent News: Google - GE Energy Plan, Stock Performance, Price Target Lowered, and Reuters Summit

Google, General Electric back renewable energy, smart grid

Pushing forward any new technology project can be easier with Google on your side. That's why General Electric joined with the Internet behemoth in a joint effort to further consumer energy options and help America's electricity infrastructure...

General Electric's Drag
Triple-A-rated General Electric is best known for light bulbs and refrigerators, and it has long been among the bluest of blue chips stocks on Wall Street. But despite its industrial past, these days, GE is essentially a bank in drag. Of its $46.9 billion in second-quarter revenue, 40.7% came from its financial operations. On June 30, finance accounted for 82.1% of GE's company-wide assets....

GE's slide continues on financial unit worries
Shares of General Electric Co. dropped nearly 7 percent Wednesday, hurt by investor worries about its financial services unit amid the global credit crisis. Analyst C. Stephen Tusa Jr. of JPMorgan said in an investor note Wednesday that he expects GE's finance business to decline by between 5 percent and 10 percent next year. He previously said growth would be flat, but now says that estimate "looks unrealistic."...

GE And Google Announce '21st Century' Electricity System
Blaise Zerega says let the energy search begin. In a marriage of old and new economy, Google and GE today announced a partnership to promote sustainable energy. With the ongoing financial turmoil as a backdrop, both companies are coming together to collaborate on new, renewable technologies that could, ultimately, deliver energy independence and help our economy....

Target slashed on GE

The stock market can behave irrationally at times, but who wants to bet against it when it is in one of its moods? Not Nigel Coe, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, who slashed his 12-month price target on General Electric Co. to $28 (U.S.) a share from $33 – a 15 per cent cut...

Reuters Summit-GE sees surge in bankruptcies

General Electric Co expects U.S. demand for financing to help bankrupt companies restructure themselves to rise by five or six times this year as a credit crunch leaves a growing number of businesses scrambling for liquidity....

GE shares climb 10 percent in late trading

General Electric Co. shares rose 10 percent in late trading on Thursday, amid a broad rally in U.S. stocks after CNBC reported that the U.S. Treasury Department was working on a solution to the financial crisis....

Recent News: GE Added to Short-Shelling Ban List

General Electric Awarded “No-Short” Status (GE)
It looks like more wishes are being granted in the government’s seemingly arbitrary “live and let die” financial rescue plan.Companies like General Electric (GE), American Express (AXP), General Motors (GM), and several foreign banks were also included on the exclusive “no-short” list over the weekend. Many of these companies had been very proactive in stating their case to be offered protection from what the government would have America believe are bloodthirsty hordes of short sellers....

More companies added to short-sale protection list
The number of companies temporarily protected from short selling soared from 799 to more than 900 on Monday as the two top stock exchanges added widely traded firms, including American Express (AXP), General Electric (GE) and General Motors (GM), to a list that the SEC put out on Friday....

Ahead of the Bell: GE up after short-selling ban
Shares of General Electric Co. jumped Friday after the Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily banned short-selling of some stocks. On Friday, the SEC banned short-selling of nearly 800 stocks. Short-selling - selling borrowed stock in the hope its value will fall - has been blamed for widening the scope of the recent financial crisis and contributing to the collapse of values of investment and commercial bank stocks in particular....

Amex, GE and others may seek to be on short-seller ban list
Companies in the financial-services sector that were left off a government list banning short sellers from trading certain stock may be seeking inclusion...

Recent News: GE Aviation, Bear Market Investors, Nigerian Power Project, and Google Energy News Conference

GE Aviation CEO Joyce adds senior position with parent firm
General Electric Co. has promoted David Joyce to senior vice president following his appointment in July as president and CEO of Evendale-based GE Aviation. Joyce, 51, was previously head of commercial engines since 2002...

GE Attracts Bearish Investors
As Wall Street struggled to come to grips with the blast of bad news from the financial sector Monday, options traders fixed their attention on General Electric Co. There was a whirl of activity in GE options on Monday, and trading spiked to six times the normal level. Investors showed a clear bias toward bearish contracts, picking up 301,000 calls that allow them to buy GE's stock and 442,000 puts that allow them to sell it, according to Trade Alert....

NIPP: We Didn’t Bribe Nigerian Officials – General Electric
General Electric (GE), the global infrastructure, technology, media and financial services company, yesterday absolved itself of any complicity in the scandal that rocked the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, saying it carried out its obligations to the letter.Replying reporters' questions in Abuja on the role of the US-based company, President and CEO of GE International, Ferdinando Nani Beccalli, who was in Abuja for the first "GE Day" in Nigeria...

GE, Google plan news conference on energy plans
Energy conglomerate General Electric Co and Internet leader Google Inc plan to hold a news conference shortly on unspecified joint energy projects, the companies said on Wednesday....

Recent News: Stock Performance Continued

Why blue chips will bounce back
For many years, investors took it on faith that a portfolio of big blue-chip stocks - chockfull of familiar names like General Electric and Coca-Cola - was the surest path to investing success. Why get cute with complicated stuff like foreign equities or small-cap shares when you could invest in well-known, industry-leading companies, sleep well at night and watch your portfolio steadily grow?...

GE tumbles 8 percent on financial worry
General Electric Co shares tumbled for a second straight trading day on Monday, hitting a five-year low as investors scrambled to reduce their exposure to the financial sector following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc...

GE shares hit new five-year low on financial jitters
The Fairfield, Conn., conglomerate operates one of the largest financial-services companies in the U.S., making up about 45% of its overall business, with the rest coming from its industrial products and services side. Shares plunged nearly 10% in early trading to bottom at $22.16, its lowest point since March 2003. Later in the morning, however, the stock rose back to $25 on word the U.S. government may consider funding for AIG to help keep the insurer solvent...

GE shares slide for 3rd consecutive session
Shares of General Electric Co. opened lower Tuesday, extending a losing streak for a third consecutive session. Shares closed down 5 percent Friday as worries about the financial sector added to fears about GE's inability to sell its private-label credit card business...

GE shares down, CEO sees no need to panic
General Electric Co shares tumbled 6.6 percent on Wednesday, even as the conglomerate's chief executive said people should be "concerned but not panicked" about the financial crisis. GE has lost about 17 percent of its market value, or $46.7 billion, over the past week, as the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and a U.S. government bailout of insurer American International Group Inc spooked investors....

GE's slide continues on financial unit worries
Shares of General Electric Co. dropped 9 percent Wednesday, hurt by investor worries about its financial services unit amid the global credit crisis. Analyst C. Stephen Tusa Jr. of JPMorgan said in an investor note Wednesday that he expects GE's finance business to decline by between 5 percent and 10 percent next year. He previously said growth would be flat, but now says that estimate "looks unrealistic."...

Analyst: GE doesn't need to sell credit unit
An analyst at Stern, Agee & Leach Inc. said that General Electric Co. does not need to sell its private label credit card business given the market's instability. Shares of General Electric, which hit a 5-year low Tuesday, have come under pressure in recent days as investors worried that earnings at its GE Capital unit could face the same challenges as other financial services firms...

GE shares reverse slide
Shares of General Electric Co. traded higher Tuesday, reversing a two-day losing streak.
Shares closed down 5 percent Friday as worries about the financial sector added to fears about GE's inability to sell its private-label credit card business....

Recent News: Stock Performance

GE tumbles as investors fret over financial stocks
Shares of General Electric Co. fell 7.5 percent Monday, extending their Friday declines on fears that its financial business would be hit by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and shakiness at other banks. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while Merrill Lynch & Co agreed to sell itself to Bank of America Corp. in an all-stock transaction worth about $50 billion to avoid more losses....

GE Sinks Over GE Capital Worries
THE FINANCIAL STORM TODAY is engulfing General Electric (ticker: GE), whose shares are off $1.71 to $25.04, as investors worry about higher funding costs at GE Capital Services and asset-quality issues at the finance unit. A key problem for GE is that GE Capital is an enormous borrower with some $540 billion of debt outstanding at the end of the second quarter. With GE Capital credit-default swaps trading at about 3 percentage points today, double recent levels, the company's financing costs may soon rise, squeezing profit margins....

GE tumbles on financial worry
General Electric Co. shares tumbled for a second straight trading day on Monday to a five-year low as investors scrambled to reduce their exposure to the financial sector following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The decline of 5 percent on the day pushed GE's market capitalization to $251.5 billion, $1 billion above that of Microsoft Corp the third largest U.S. company by market capitalization....

GE Letter to Investors (09/14/2008)

From: Trevor A. Schauenberg, Vice President, Corporate Investor Communications

"In response to questions we received on Friday and because of the extraordinary market conditions, we wanted to provide our investors with additional information on GE’s financial services businesses..."

Click here to read the entire letter... (PDF)

Recent News: Stock Performance, Lehman Bankruptcy, and China Headquarters

Citi Maintains 'Hold' Rating on General Electric (GE), Sees Risk to Earnings
Citi analyst says, "The collapse of Bear Stearns in late Q1 contributed to GE's Q1 earnings miss and now the late Q3 failure of Lehman Bros. and struggles at AIG are causing concerns about another GE miss. GE does need to continue selling real estate to make its H2 guidance, but re-affirmed its Real Estate guidance last night. However...

GE tumbles as investors fret over financial stocks
Shares of General Electric Co. fell 6.5 percent Monday, extending their Friday declines on fears that its financial business would be hit by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and shakiness at other banks...

GE Capital's CDS spreads widen 139 bps-Markit
The cost of protecting General Electric Capital's debt with credit default swaps surged on Monday after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers...

GE seeks to reassure investors
General Electric Co. said its financial services units didn't need to raise external capital, affirmed its profit forecast for the commercial real estate unit and said its consumer-finance division, GE Money, had "adequate reserves."Profit at the finance units, collectively known as GE Capital, was $5.2 billion in the first half of 2008, General Electric said in a memo posted on its website in an effort to reassure investors amid "extraordinary market conditions."...

GE to launch 5 regional headquarters in China
The U.S. giant now operates two regional headquarters in Shanghai and Beijing. The new locations will be in Shenyang, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi'an and Guangzhou -- provincial capitals in the country's northeast, central, southwest, northwest and south, according to Chen Xiangli, president of China Technology Center under GE...

ONN Sidewinder Video Report: General Electric Co. (GE)

Video Report from the CBOE on GE Options
The Sidewinder Report, is a daily options news program on www.onn.tv, recorded live on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

Of Interest: Lehman Brothers file Chapter 11 - Markets Fall

Markets in turmoil by Lehman failure and Merrill sale
Global markets plummeted on Monday after investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, rival Merrill Lynch agreed to be taken over and the Federal Reserve threw a life line to the battered financial industry.

As a deepening crisis took new, bigger victims, The U.S. Federal Reserve said for the first time it would accept stocks in exchange for cash loans and 10 of the world's top banks agreed to establish a $70 billion emergency fund, with any one of them able to tap up to a third of that.

On a black Sunday for Wall Street, frantic attempts to find a rescuer for Lehman failed, and troubled insurer American International Group asked the Fed for a lifeline, according to news reports.

Recent News: Stock Performance, Ex-GE Worker was a spy, and Dividends

GE (GE) Down 6%: Nothing Is Sacred
Wall St. might make the argument that GE (GE) has more exposure to the credit markets than most huge companies because of its financial division. But, the current hammering of the shares may have gotten out of hand....

GE Falls Most Since April, Dragged by Lehman, AIG
General Electric Co. fell the most in New York trading since cutting its annual forecast five months ago, dragged down by financial stocks including American International Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ...

Movers roundup: Panera Bread, GE
Shares of General Electric Co. fell 5 percent Friday, which an analyst attributed to nervousness at the conglomerate's inability to sell its private-label credit card business....

Ex-GE worker admits he was a spy
A former Schenectady man involved in the most famous espionage case of the 20th century has for the first time acknowledged giving military information to the Soviet Union, according to Thursday’s New York Times....

Dividend growth power
Venerable blue-chip companies such as General Electric and Boeing deserve your attention — for their dividends...

GE slides on worries over credit card unit sale
Shares of General Electric Co. fell 5 percent Friday, which an analyst attributed to nervousness at the conglomerate's inability to sell its private-label credit card business...

Recent News: NBC Super Bowl Ads and Stock Performance

NBC Manages to Rack Up Strong Sales on Super Bowl Marketers may be tightening their belts amid the economic downturn, but you'd never know it from the sale of Super Bowl ads. The National Football League season is only a week old, but General Electric's NBC Universal says it has already sold about 85% of the available spots, up from the 60% that is standard this time of year. The robust sales pace comes despite an estimated 10% price increase from the last Super Bowl, and NBC says there are only about 10 spots left...

General Electric (GE) PriceWatch Alert for September 15, 2008
General Electric (NYSE: GE) ended the last trading session at $26.75. So far the stock has hit a 52-week low of $25.60 and 52-week high of $42.15. General Electric stock has been showing support around 25.53 and resistance in the 28.35 range. Technical indicators for the stock are Bearish and S&P gives GE a positive 4 STAR (out of 5) buy rating. GE appears on the Investors Observer Analysts Favorites list. For a hedged play on this stock, look at a Mar '09 27 covered call (GEW CA) for a net debit in the $24.40 area. That is also the break even stock price for this trade...

GE shares down 5 percent amid financial sector worry
General Electric Co shares fell 5 percent on Friday, as investors worried that turmoil in the financial sector would take a toll on the conglomerate.
The shares of the second-largest company by market capitalization were down $1.46 to $26.70 in late afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier, they had been as low as $26.33....

GE slides on worries over credit card unit sale
Shares of General Electric Co. fell more than 6 percent Friday, which an analyst attributed to nervousness at the conglomerate's inability to sell its private-label credit card business. Analyst Nicholas Heymann of Sterne Agee in New York said in a phone interview that investors believed GE would sell its credit card business this summer....

Recent News: India Acquisitions

GE eyes acquisitions in India
New Delhi, Sept. 10 General Electric Co (GE) is scouting for acquisitions to scale up its presence in India. The diversified engineering and services major is looking across a gamut of sectors for opportunities to acquire firms, especially the core infrastructure, healthcare and the media space. “We are looking across the board for opportunities (for acquisitions). Core infrastructure is definitely an area where we are evaluating options, while healthcare, and media space could also be other possible areas,” Mr Tejpreet S. Chopra, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE (India), told Business Line. He said the targets could include suppliers and customers in these sectors...

General Electric scouts for acquisitions in India
General Electric (GE) is eyeing for acquisitions to increase its presence in India. The diversified engineering and services major is looking across a gamut of sectors for opportunities to acquire firms, especially the core infrastructure, healthcare and the media space, reports Business Line...