NEW YORK�General Electric (GE) said Friday that first-quarter profit fell 12%, although it topped Wall estimates when some one-time items are excluded.
The industrial and financial giant said its primary manufacturing operation rebounded after posting weak results following the global recession. Its industrial business, which includes transportation, health care and energy infrastructure, boosted profit 10% in the quarter.
Altogether, GE reported earnings of $3.03 billion, or 29 cents per share, for the first quarter. That compares with $3.4 million, or 31 cents per share, in 2011. Revenue slipped 8% to $35.2 billion.
Excluding special items, GE says it earned 34 cents per share.
Analysts, who typically exclude special items in their estimates, were expecting earnings of 33 cents per share on sales of $34.8 billion.
GE said profit increased 10% in energy infrastructure, its largest industrial business by revenue. Profit also rose 48% in its transportation segment, 10% in health care, and 2% in aviation. Profit fell 11% in its home and business solutions segment.
On top of the strong quarterly performance, orders for locomotives, aircraft engines and other industrial equipment grew by double-digit rates for the quarter.
The company's GE Capital lending reported a profit increase of 6%.
The Fairfield, Connecticut, company is a major component of the Dow Jones industrial average and is closely watched because it has a stake in almost every sector of the economy, from light bulbs and credit cards to windmills.
No comments:
Post a Comment