Shares of General Electric Co. GE, +10.32% susrged 5.4% toward a 15-month high in premarket trading Wednesday, after the industrial conglomerate reported reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations, but provided a mixed outlook. Net income fell to $538 million, or 6 cents a share, from $575 million, or 7 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 21 cents from 14 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 17 cents. Revenue fell 1% to $26.24 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $25.67 billion. Industrial free cash flow (FCF) was $3.88 billion. Among GE’s business segments, power revenue was flat at $5.40 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $5.48 billion; aviation revenue grew 6% to $8.94 billion, beating expectations of $8.84 billion; health care revenue was flat at $5.40 billion, below forecasts of $5.46 billion and renewable energy revenue rose 2% to $4.75 billion to top expectations of $4.44 billion. GE Capital swung to earnings of $6 million from a loss of $177 million. For 2020, GE projects adjusted EPS of 50 cents to 60 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus of 67 cents, while industrial FCF is expected to be $2 billion to $4 billion, compared with expectations of about $1.22 billion. GE said the outlook is based on expectations that Boeing Co.’s BA, +1.72% 737 MAX will return to service in mid-2020. The stock has gained 29.3% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.04% has advanced 6.1%.