GE's disappointing Q1 report sent stocks tumbling. Dow is down 144, decliners ahead of advancers 5-2 & NAZ down 31. GE, a Dow stock & volume leader, is down 11% on volume of 180MM shares already. GE reported what can only be described as disappointing earnings of 43¢. This is down a penny from last year & below the guidance area of 50-53¢ they had been using. GE is a bell-weather company with many divisions competing on a worldwide basis with their financial business being especially important.
"We had planned for a difficult environment," according to Jeff Immelt, CEO. He cited the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. as a reason for the performance of GE's commercial business. He continued, "We had planned for an environment that was going to be challenging, but what I would say is kind of late in the quarter, particularly after the Bear Stearns event, we experienced an extraordinary disruption in our ability to complete asset sales and incurred marks of impairments and this was something that we clearly didn't see until the end of the quarter." More of CNBC's interview with Jeff Immelt. GE's announcement is an ominous sign for other earnings releases in coming weeks!
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