GE Earnings Beat Estimates, But Still Drop 19 Percent in Q4

General Electric (GE) released its earnings for Q4 2009 before the opening bell on Wall Street on Friday. While GE earnings were easily above analyst estimates, they still showed a drop of 19 percent from 2008.

GE is a multinational American technology and services conglomerate. In 2009, Forbes ranked GE as the world's largest company. Some of the divisions reflected in the GE earnings are NBC, GE Healthcare, GE Energy, and many more.

GE earniners were $3 billion, or 28 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31. Analyst estimates had been 26 cents a share. However, this is a drop of 19 percent year-over-year, as in the same timeframe in 2008, GE's earnings were $3.7 billion, or 35 cents a share.

Overall revenue fell 10 percent, year-over-year, for the quarter, from $46.2 billion to $41.4 billion. In early trading, investors seem mildly pleased with GE earnings, as the stock was up about 3 percent, to $16.53.

The division that had the worst performance was GE Capital. To the casual observer, this is not an unexpected report, although all segments except commercial real-estate were profitable. GE Capital earnings dropped 67 percent in the quarter.

NBC Universal, in the midst of headlines lately over the Jay Leno - Conan O'Brien negotiations, saw profit decline 30 percent on a 3.7 percent revenue decline. The company yesterday reached an agreement with O’Brien, who will perform his last show Friday night. This will allow Jay Leno to move back into his “Tonight Show” slot at 11:35 PM on March 1.

GE does expect a return to growth by 2011. The company's forecasts are more upbeat, and in the GE earnings conference call with analysts this morning, Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said "The world we look at really has improved."

Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com

Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.