LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - General Electric posted better than expected earnings and revenues for the latest three-month stretch, despite the multiple headwinds that it faced during the quarter and as it moved to make the company leaner and bulk up its balance sheet.
But it still incurred in a hefty net loss of -$9.465bn, although that was 59.0% less than in the year-ago period, for a GAAP loss per share of 15 cents, or earnings per share of 15 cents on an adjusted basis (consensus: 11 cents).

In GAAP and continuing terms, the company incurred in an eight cent or $740.0m goodwill impairment charge during the quarter related to the Hydro business in Renewable Energies arm.

Commenting on the company's results, chief executive officer, Lawrence Gulp, highlighted the continued progress made by the company in its transformation programme, together with its "strong" backlog, organic growth, higher margins and "positive cash trajectory", despite the global macroeconomic uncertainty.

Following the strategy reviews conducted at each of its business units during the quarter, Gulp said that the industrial conglomerate had "more work to do".

GE's sales meanwhile were little changed from the comparable year ago period at $23.36bn (consensus: $22.93bn), with weakness centred on its Power unit, where revenues fell by 14% to $3.926bn.

In its Renewable Energy arm on the other hand, revenues jumped by approximately 13.0% to hit $4.43bn, while orders jumped by roughly 30.0% to $5.02bn, with those for onshore wind especially strong, although the segment as a whole remained unprofitable.

Aviation sales fell by 4% and in Healthcare they were up by 1.0%.

During the reporting period, GE sold its remaining shares in Wabtec for cash net proceeds of $1.6bn and part of its stake in Naker Hughes for another $3.0bn in net cash proceeds.

It also issued $5.0bn in debt, repaid part of its intercompany loans to GE Capital and modified its US pensions benefits which management said would reduce its industrial net debt by $4.0-6.0bn through 2020.

GE Capital's external debt was also cut by approximately $1.0bn.

Regarding the outlook, GE reiterated its previous forecast for full-year adjusted earnings per share in a range of $0.55-0.65, but nudged up the midpoint of its guidance for industrial free cash flows on the back of lower expected restructuring expenses at that unit, by $200.0m to $0.0-2.0bn.

As of 1211 GMT, shares of GE were trading 7.61% higher to $9.76.

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