Asset sales to spur GE profit

Article Excerpt

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $22 (New York symbol GE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.7 billion; Market cap: $191.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ge.com) is a leading maker of industrial machinery, including jet engines, power plant equipment and locomotives. It also makes medical gear and lighting products. GE recently merged its oil and gas equipment business with Baker Hughes Inc. The new firm—Baker Hughes, a GE Co. (New York symbol BHGE)—sells a variety of services and products that help exploration companies extract more oil and gas from their wells. GE owns 62.5% of the merged company. If you exclude costs related to that transaction, the company’s earnings in the third quarter of 2017, fell 11.1%, $2.55 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 9.4%, to $0.29 from $0.32. However, revenue improved 14.4%, to $33.5 billion from $29.3 billion. The company plans to spur its long-term earnings…