From Barron's July 17:
Shares of GE Vernova GEV gained ground on a day that featured blow-out earnings by the company’s sibling GE Aerospace GE.
GE Vernova stock added 1.6%, closing at $570.17, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%. GE Aerospace stock slid 2.2% to $260.28.
Coming into Thursday, investors would have bet that GE Aerospace would get most of the attention for the day. The jet engine maker reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. “Blow-out performance” is how Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard characterized the quarter.
Still, expectations were running high, with Wall Street estimates ahead of GE Aerospace guidance. The results weren’t good enough to keep the stock in the green. Coming into Thursday trading, the shares were up about 60% over the past 12 months.
GE Vernova stock powered ahead, thanks to more price-target increases from Wall Street.
BofA Securities analyst Andrew Obin raised his GE Vernova price target to $620 from $550. That followed a Wednesday increase from J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Strouse, who raised his price target to $620 from $460. Both rate GE Vernova stock at Buy.
Obin pointed out that his 2027 earnings estimates are above the Wall Street consensus. “Upward estimate revisions still ahead,” wrote Obin, adding he expects a strong second quarter for the company. GE Vernova reports earnings on July 23.
Like GE Aerospace, GE Vernova has high expectations coming into earnings. Coming into Thursday trading, GE Vernova stock was up more than 200% over the past 12 months.
While expectations are high, “We expect [backlog] momentum and demand commentary to remain robust,” wrote Strouse. “Recent [artificial intelligence] infrastructure investment announcements and management commentary on the 2Q call should increasingly drive investors to look out to [the] fiscal 2029 outlook, where we believe GEV should continue to see higher pricing and margin expansion in Gas Power.”....
....MORE
After trading up $9.00 yesterday, setting all-time intraday and closing highs—$581.03 and $570.17 respectively—the stock is trading up $5.37 (+0.94) ahead of the regular market open, $575.61 last.
