Word: ge
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...other root cause that bedevils any attempt to improve the job situation is that private enterprise is suffering from an unusually rapid loss of earnings. Corporate bankruptcies are beginning to rise sharply, and even companies that have been considered rock-solid, such as GE (GE) and Microsoft (MSFT), admit that their core businesses are being hurt badly and are coy about when they think the situation will improve. Large companies have gotten into the habit of saying that they cannot forecast earnings because they have "limited visibility." In most cases that means they cannot predict their sales beyond the current...
...recovery were probably finalized several weeks ago. It would have been impossible to balance the Budget without them. At the point when those forecasts were set, GDP contraction for the fourth quarter of last year had not been revised to 6.2%. GM (GM) had not posted its huge loss. GE (GE) had not cut its dividend. And, Citigroup (C) had not been partially taken over by the government. Some analysts might say that those were unrelated activities made by large companies in unrelated industries. However, these firms were, until recently, the largest car company, bank, and industrial conglomerate...
...GE still has a number of remarkable businesses. The sales at it energy infrastructure business has gone from $19.8 billion in 2004 to $38.5 billion last year. Revenue at GE's technology infrastructure business has gone from $30 billion to $46.3 billion over the same period. The profits at both these segments of GE have gone up at similar rates...
...easy knocks against GE is that it board has not kept CEO Jeff Immelt on a shorter leash. He should have been forced out of many of the company's consumer and industrial businesses more quickly. That criticism seems reasonable. Immelt has also hung on to NBCU, the company's entertainment unit. While it does not belong with the rest of GE's businesses, it performance has not harmed the parent. At its worst, it can be viewed as an expensive way to get good seats at the Olympics. Looked at in a better light it bought in $3.1 billion...
...GE is not the monstrosity that the stock market has made it out to be. It may cut its dividend or lose its precious credit rating. Its financial service businesses may post large loses. But, it should not trade like a money center bank that the federal government is about to nationalize...