GE (GE) has reaffirmed guidance and will sell off its appliance division. That has been not enough to keep sellers at bay. Shares in the conglomerate moved down to $30.52, a new 52-week low. While the Dow is off a bit less than 5% this year, GE is down 17%.
After falling on disappointing earnings for the first quarter, GE regained some of its footing, but selling the appliance business has not been considered an adequate solution to the company’s problems. Wall St. still believes that GE is in too many businesses to effectively manage them. While its infrastructure operations have done well, other parts of the company including its medical and industrial arms have not.
Shareholders are also concerned that Asia, which was to be the company’s big growth engine, is no longer economically robust enough to support major revenue improvements for GE. If its operations there falter, the US and Europe are only likely to contribute modestly the the firm’s success.
Wall St. continues to believe that the solution to the conglomerate’s troubles is to break the company into pieces. The minority report on GE is that it needs new management and that similar operations like United Technologies (UTX) are doing better.
Whether its is the company’s structure or its management, GE’s shares are not going back up.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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