GE posts strong profit gain

Article Excerpt

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $20 (New York symbol GE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 10.7 billion; Market cap: $214.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ge.com) is seeing rising demand for its large industrial equipment, such as turbines and locomotives, as the economy recovers. GE’s order backlog is now a record $175 billion. In 2010, GE’s earnings rose 15.4%, to $12.6 billion, or $1.15 a share. It earned $10.9 billion, or $1.00 a share, in 2009. Revenue fell 3.3%, to $150.2 billion from $155.3 billion. However, that’s partly because the company continues to shrink GE Capital, its finance division. GE is a buy. buy…