GE Misses Thanks To Ugly Financial Unit (GE)

Courtesy of Vincent Fernando at Clusterstock

General Electric missed EPS expectations by two cents, reporting $0.22 for the third quarter. Revenue fell 20%, though this was largely caused by a 30% drop in revenue for the company’s Capital Finance segment as the company tries to pare back this troubled business’s operations.

While revenue fell for other segments as well, by a significant 9 – 18% each, margins improved substantially for all of them.

Overal operating profit fell 26% largely due to an 87% drop in profit from the Capital Finance business. Ex-Capital Finance, operating profit actually rose 4% to $4,179 million from $4,017 million.

It’s thus important to strip out the financial unit when judging the current operational situation, especially since it is being purposefully pared back.

Revenue fell by far less on this measure.

GE: Revenues were $37.8 billion, in line with our expectations. Industrial sales were down 13%. Industrial organic sales, which exclude the impact of FX and the 2008 Olympics, were down 8%. GE Capital Services (GECS) revenues declined 31%, driven by Capital Finance ending net investment reduction ahead of plan and the Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P. deconsolidation.

While the financial arm still unfortunately poses an element of uncertainty for the stock, at least it didn’t post an operating loss.

GE results