General Electric Co reported second-quarter profit that exceeded analysts? estimates, buoyed by higher earnings from energy equipment even as a global recession hurt finance, health care and NBC Universal.
Profit from continuing operations declined 47% to $2.87 billion, or 26 cents a share, from $5.39 billion, or 54 cents, a year earlier, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said in a statement on Friday. The average of 13 analysts? estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 24 cents. Revenue dropped 17% to $39.1 billion. ?The bottom line is good,? James Hardesty, president of Hardesty Capital Management in Baltimore, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. ?Given the environment we?ve been in, that?s almost more important than the top line. The top line will turn with the economies of the world.? Investors wary of potential finance losses have knocked 56% from GE?s market value in a year, adding urgency to chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt?s plan to shrink GE Capital.
He?s counting on equipment and service orders for products from jet engines to power-plant turbines to support earnings. The order backlog stood at $169 billion at the end of the quarter compared with about $170 billion in May. For GE?s four main businesses, earnings fell in all but Energy Infrastructure, where profit rose 13%. Bloomberg