General Electric: Expect ‘Busy and Complex’ Earnings Call

Bernstein’s Steven Winoker thinks General Electric (GE) will beat earnings:

Bloomberg

We anticipate at least a 1-cent headline beat in the quarter. Of the 40 cents in our forecast earnings per share, we expect ~20 cents from GE Industrial, 4 cents above 2Q13, and ~20 cents from GE Capital, the same as 2Q13. We anticipate GAAP EPS from continuing ops of 36 cents. We do anticipate gains in the quarter, including from the sale of the Wayne fuel business, and the potential for tax effects in GE Capital from the sale of Nordic GE Money Bank, along with the “normal” real estate gains that show up in GE Capital continuing ops. The company has guided to ~$1-1.5B in restructuring in 2014, and gains from the Wayne and Nordic sales could be used to “cover” some of these costs…

Of course, two major points of interest this quarter will be Alstom and Synchrony, and we look forward to additional progress updates on both fronts. Recall too that General Electric has targeted ~$4B of other divestitures (including the rail signaling business). Between those items, and the potential for one-timers mentioned above, we expect this to be a busy and complex earnings call with General Electric.

Shares of General Electric have gained 1.1% to $26.49 at 2:14 p.m. today. It reports earnings on July 18.