General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reported its second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Friday. Despite seeing a solid beat on both the top and bottom lines, investors still did not feel that was enough, even though revenues were up 15% year over year.
The company said that it had $0.51 in earnings per share (EPS) on $33.5 billion in revenue. The Thomson Reuters consensus estimates were $0.46 in EPS on revenue of $31.76 billion. In the same period of last year, GE posted EPS of $0.31 and $29.32 billion in revenue.
Through the second quarter of 2016, GE has returned about $18 billion to shareholders, with roughly $13.7 billion of that from the share buyback plan.
Jeff Immelt, chair and chief executive of GE, commented:
Investors are seeing the benefits of our portfolio transformation. The GE Capital exit plan enabled GE Capital to return $15 billion in dividends year to date, and our de-designation as a systemically important financial institution gives us more balance sheet flexibility. We will continue to invest in key growth initiatives such as GE Digital, while returning ~$26 billion to investors through buyback and dividends.
During this quarter, the company announced over $25 billion in orders and commitments at the Farnborough Airshow for GE and its partner companies.
Also in the second quarter, GE announced the acquisition of Doosan Engineering & Construction Heat Recovery Steam Generator business, which ultimately will expand its portfolio and offerings.
Immelt added:
The diversity and scale of our portfolio enabled the company to perform well despite a volatile and slow growth economy. We delivered $0.51 of earnings per share with strong execution in Power, Aviation and Healthcare that offset challenging environments in Oil & Gas and Transportation. We expect strong organic growth in the second half of the year and reaffirm our 2016 operating framework.
On the books, GE’s cash and marketable securities totaled $91.8 billion at the end of the quarter, versus $102.5 billion at the end of the previous year.
Shares of GE closed Thursday down about 0.6% at $32.59, with a consensus analyst price target of $33.36 and a 52-week trading range of $19.37 to $33.00. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was actually down about 2.2% at $31.89 in early trading indications Friday.
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