G.E.’s Earnings Fall 47%, Led by Finance Unit

General Electric reported a steep fall in second-quarter earnings on Friday, weighed down by the continuing struggles of its big finance business, falling orders for industrial equipment and declining advertising spending at its NBC television network and local stations.

Yet analysts said that the giant multinational’s results showed a steady performance at a time of worldwide recession. They said G.E. was doing a good job of cutting costs and seemed to be progressing in paring the size and risks of its finance arm.

G.E., which has industrial businesses spanning energy, aviation and health care, reported earnings per share of 26 cents, down from 54 cents in the quarter a year earlier. The 26 cents was slightly more than analysts’ consensus estimate of 23 cents a share, as compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The company’s net income fell 47 percent, to $2.9 billion, down from $5.4 billion a year ago.

Given its global reach across product lines as diverse as gas turbines, power plants and aircraft engines, G.E. provides a concentrated glimpse of the health of capital spending in the industrial economy as a whole.

On that score, the G.E. report showed continued weakness. The company’s revenue fell 17 percent, to $39.08 billion. After adjusting for a stronger dollar, which reduces the value of overseas sales, sales were down 12 percent from the previous year. G.E.’s quarterly revenue was about $3 billion less than the Wall Street forecast.

Capital equipment orders for G.E. fell sharply, especially transportation machinery like locomotives and health care equipment like medical-imaging machines. In a conference call with analysts, company executives said they expected industrial equipment orders to be off about 25 percent for the year.

“That’s a pretty significant decline, but it’s not unexpected in this economy,” said Richard Tortoriello, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

Still, analysts said, the fall in industrial orders disappointed investors, sending G.E.’s shares down 6.05 percent, to $11.65.

Jeffrey R. Immelt, G.E.’s chief executive, said his management team was focused on cutting costs, operational improvements and repairing the finance unit, while still investing in businesses likely to prosper when the economy recovers. “We’re as well positioned as you can be in this environment,” Mr. Immelt said.

Analysts say two main concerns cloud the outlook for G.E. Its industrial side is a collection of capital-equipment businesses, and many customers will delay large purchases until genuine signs of economic recovery surface, they say.

The worry about the finance unit, analysts say, is the possibility that G.E. may not yet have seen the worst of losses and that it may have to set aside more money to cover them. But for a quarter at least, the trends looked encouraging.

The finance business was the biggest drag on G.E.’s results. Its operating profits fell 80 percent, to $590 million, down from $2.9 billion a year ago. And revenue in the finance unit, which includes home mortgages in Britain and private-label credit cards in the United States, declined 29 percent, to less than $12.8 billion, from nearly $18 billion.

G.E. has moved to strengthen the finance business. It said leverage, or the ratio of borrowings to equity, is down to 5.6 to 1, compared with 7 to 1 a year ago. And borrowing in the short-term commercial paper market is down to $50 billion, from $72 billion a year ago.

A new uncertainty about G.E.’s finance business was raised last month with the Treasury Department’s initial plans to overhaul the financial system. One recommendation, aimed at companies with large financial and nonfinancial businesses, would require G.E. to shed its big finance unit.

G.E. executives said the company would fight the proposal. “We are really committed to GE Capital,” Mr. Immelt said.

The company’s television network and movie studio unit, NBC Universal, also hurt the quarterly results, with earnings off 41 percent because of charge-offs and falling television advertising.

The impact of economic stimulus programs has not yet been evident, Mr. Immelt said. “We’ll see benefit from the global stimulus in the second half of the year,” he said.

Source: nytimes.com