Friday, October 21, 2011

General Electric Reports, Disappoints, Drops; Buffett Sighs (GE)

With half an hour to the open the stock is down 1.82% at $16.32.
And Warren Buffett's 134.8 million warrants are deep underwater.

Warren Buffett says ... "GE us tge symbol of American business to the world.  I am confident that GE will continue to be successful in the years to come."

"He was pitching like an insurance guy from Omaha"

The exercise price on the warrants is $22.25. They expire in October 2013.

From BusinessWeek:
GE Profit Matches Estimates as Finance Blunts Energy Drop
General Electric Co. earnings climbed 11 percent in the third quarter as the finance unit’s gains blunted tighter profit margins in the energy business.


Earnings from continuing operations were $3.4 billion, or 31 cents a share, compared with $3.06 billion, or 28 cents, a year earlier excluding pension costs, Fairfield, Connecticut- based GE said today in a statement. That matched the 31-cent average of 13 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Profit is rebounding at GE Capital as Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt simplifies the business and concentrates on areas like middle-market lending. He’s shrinking the share of overall earnings from finance and focusing on industrial operations, where the largest unit, energy infrastructure, declined more than some analysts estimated.

“Energy came in a little light of our expectations,” said Joel Levington, managing director of corporate credit for Brookfield Asset Management in New York. “Pricing still looks to be challenging, while GE Capital performed slightly better. All told, nothing too exciting, which given the macro backdrop, is a reasonable result.”

Profit in energy infrastructure, the largest industrial unit, fell 9 percent to $1.5 billion, lower than the average estimate from four analysts including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc....MORE
[how long have you been waiting to use that graphic? -ed]