It’s no secret corporate America is sitting on a huge stash of cash these days, and investors are watching closely to see when/if/how they plan to spend it.
First, what not to do, according to my colleague Matt Phillips: use the extra cash to expand capacity. It seems investors are skittish about companies getting too gung-ho with the economy still on the mend.
But if investors don’t seem to crave aggressive business strategies, what’s a big cash-rich corporation to do?
General Electric offers one example. On Friday, the blue-chip announced it would raise its dividend by 20% and reinstate a share-buyback plan, the first dividend increase since the company slashed its dividend in early 2009.
GE shares have been reaping a short-term windfall from that decision. They’re up more than 5% in the past few days, an apparent vindication of an idea often overlooked by corporate chiefs: If you’re not going to spend all that cash, why not return it to shareholders?
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
Showing posts with label The Wall Street Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Wall Street Journal. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, December 20, 2009
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.
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.
GE-Hitachi / Detroit Edison Nuclear Plant (WSJ)
GE-Hitachi, Detroit Edison Reach Deal For Nuclear Plant
The nuclear-power joint venture of General Electric Co. (GE) and Hitachi Ltd. (HIT, 6501.TO) has reached an agreement with DTE Energy Co.'s (DTE) Detroit Edison utility related to the venture's next-generation nuclear reactor.
The deal on site-preparation work moves the project ahead in its federal license application process.
Detroit Edison, Michigan's largest utility, is using the reactor design in its application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate a proposed generator on the site of the company's Fermi 2 Power Plant, located 35 miles south of Detroit.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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...
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...
Thursday, February 28, 2008
How great is GE? Just Listen to Jeffery.
Great Scott! A New GE Metric The Wall Street Journal
To learn how 'great' the returns on General Electric stock will be this year, just listen to the company's conference calls. London-based stock analysts for Morgan Stanley have been tracking GE's stock price against the number of times Chairman Jeffrey Immelt and Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin use the word "great" or "greater" in investor calls. They found that as the use of "greatness" rises, so does GE stock. The analysts dub their tool the "greatometer."
