Defensive Posture Helped Boost GE, Immelt Says (WSJ)

Defensive Posture Helped Boost GE, Immelt Says

General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told investors Tuesday that the "worst is over" for the company's finance unit, and he forecast that GE revenue next year will roughly equal this year's.

Speaking from the stage of "Saturday Night Live" in New York's Rockefeller Center, Mr. Immelt said GE's outlook improved after the company played "defense" for much of the past year. "I think you can think about the company being back on offense, doing what we do best," he said. He also said the global economic environment is improving, though he expects the recovery to be gradual.

GE projects 2010 revenue of about $155 billion, flat with this year, and a profit margin of about 16%, also unchanged. GE doesn't offer a formal earnings estimate, but Mr. Immelt said he expects sales and profit in GE's industrial units to be roughly flat next year compared with this year. GE said last week it expects profit at its finance unit, GE Capital, to be flat in 2010.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.