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 The U.S. conglomerate, which is pulling back from financial
services, also said third-quarter industrial revenue grew 4 percent,
excluding the impact of foreign currency swings and acquisitions.
The company maintained its profit forecast for its core industrials
segment of $1.13 to $1.20 per share for the full year.
Connecticut-based GE's orders dropped 26 percent, with a big decline
in oil-related orders, but Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said GE
"had some big orders last year so the comparison was pretty tough."
Shares, up about 10 percent since activist investor Nelson Peltz
unveiled a $2.5 billion stake in the company earlier this month,
surged 2.7 percent to $28.80 in afternoon trading. It was the
biggest percentage gainer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
On another positive note for shareholders, GE said it expects to
retire as much as 7 percent of its outstanding floated shares by
mid-November, as it completes the spinoff of its former retail
finance business, Synchrony Financial <SYF.N>. The Federal Reserve
earlier this week said Synchrony could function as a standalone
company.
The Synchrony split is part of GE's massive retreat from financial
services, which began in earnest in April when it said it would
divest some $200 billion worth of its GE Capital financing assets to
focus on industrial manufacturing.
Including the Synchrony split, GE said on Friday it expects to
return about $30 billion in cash to shareholders this year through
GE Capital divestitures.
For the quarter, net earnings fell 29 percent from a year earlier to
$2.51 billion, or 25 cents per share.
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Excluding items, earnings of 29 cents a share exceeded the average
estimate of analysts by three cents, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
Revenue slipped 1.3 percent to $31.68 billion, with revenue in its
oil and gas segment dropping 16 percent amid weakness in crude
prices.
Aviation revenue increased 5 percent, while revenue in its power and
water division, its biggest segment, grew 1 percent.
GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt expressed confidence its $3.3 billion
sale of its appliances unit to Sweden's Electrolux <ELUXb.ST> would
close this quarter, despite a challenge from U.S. regulators.
Profit may come in at the higher end of the 2015 industrial forecast
if the appliances sale closes during this quarter, as it expects, GE
said.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Bernadette
Baum)
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