GE posts solid quarter, outlook very good

Giant conglomerate General Electric (NYSE: GE) reported a solid quarterly result this morning and announced it was exiting its subprime mortgage business. The stock is up 1.5% in pre-market trading. General Electric is about to surpass the $400 billion market capitalization mark, second to only ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) who just passed the $500 billion mark.

GE also announced that it was increasing its share buyback program to $14 billion, another positive data point. The stock at $39.70 puts GE's share price at a 5-year high, but still significantly off of its 2000-2001 peak of $60.

GE announced earnings per share for the quarter at $0.53 on revenues of $42.3 billion, up 12% from last year's $37.7 billion. Earnings were up 10% from last year's $0.48 per share. The numbers were quite good despite the loss at GE's mortgage unit, which they are selling. GE has already packaged and sold $3.7 billion worth of mortgage paper.

The good news for the forward quarters will probably lift GE's share price as orders and backlog grew 25% and 425 respectively. The visibility for GE's revenues is the highest it's been in several years, thanks to the infrastructure and financial segments.

Shareholders will be happy to hear that GE endorsed a solid growth rate for the upcoming third quarter as the company is comfortable with a $0.54-0.56 earnings per share range, representing 15%-19% year-over-year growth.

General Electric's stock has been performing terribly these past five or six years. The pressure on CEO Jeffrey Immelt to grow the revenue and earnings base has been tremendous. With the good results of the second quarter and strong guidance for the third quarter, GE's stock could be a more respectable performer going forward.

Georges Yared is the Chief Investment Strategist for Yared Investment Research.