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By Alwyn Scott
(Reuters) - General Electric Co <GE.N> posted quarterly results
that topped expectations on Friday, as earnings from aviation,
healthcare and transportation offset weak power and oil-and-gas
profits, sending shares sharply higher in premarket trading.
GE earned an adjusted 16 cents per share, up from a restated 14
cents a share a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected
11 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. GE
recently restated 2017 results to reflect changes in accounting
standards.
"It's an apples-to-apples, 5-cent beat," said Scott Davis,
analyst and chief executive at Melius Research in New York. He
noted that the figure excludes restructuring costs of about 5
cents a share.
GE also affirmed its forecast for 2018. It expects adjusted
earnings of $1.00 to $1.07 a share, which also excludes
restructuring costs, and adjusted industrial free cash flow of
between $6 billion and $7 billion.
GE's shares were up 5.4 percent to $14.75 in premarket trading,
after rising 2.4 percent on Thursday.
Analysts had forecast GE's profit to decline in the first
quarter and some thought Friday's results might fail to meet
even those diminished expectations.
But the company's aviation, transportation and healthcare
businesses produced double-digit profit growth in the quarter,
boosting overall results.
Profit at GE's power business fell 38 percent on a 9 percent
decline in sales; orders dropped 29 percent.
"The industry continues to be challenging and is trending softer
than our forecast," GE said of the power business.
Profit in GE's oil and gas unit fell 30 percent, excluding
restructuring and other charges, GE said.
Earnings from continuing operations attributable to GE
shareholders more than tripled to $369 million, or 4 cents a
share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $122 million or 1
cent, a year earlier, the company said. Revenue rose 6.6 percent
to $28.7 billion.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott in New York and Rachit Vats in
Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Nick Zieminski)
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