Tomorrow morning before the market opens, General Electric (NYSE: GE) will get its chance to impress Wall Street when it reports its fourth-quarter numbers. So far its been a pretty turbulent earnings season, so let's hope that GE can give the market something positive to rally behind.Going into tomorrow's report, analysts are expecting to see the company show earnings of 68 cents a share, and revenues of $47.2 billion. The last time that the company reported earnings was back on October 12 when it matched estimates for its third quarter, with earnings of 50 cents.
The stock could definitely use some good news. Over the past three months the stock has been struggling, and as of the close of yesterday's trading session, the stock is trading at $34.56, which is only 1.9% above its 52-week low of $33.90.
A couple of things that Wall Street will be looking to hear about during tomorrow's call will be the current writers strike, as well as GE's recent announcement that it would be buying the majority of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) Capital's commercial finance operations.So what are some of the analysts saying ahead of tomorrow's release?
Nigel Coe, who works at Deutsche Bank is looking for good things from GE. Coe told investors that he expects the company to hit its earnings estimates on good performance from GE Industrial and NBC Universal, where he expects to see a 9% jump in revenues. We will see how NBC actually has fared during the current writers strike, which has been in effect since all the way back on November 5. Coe is predicting to see the company show earnings of 68 cents.
But what about our experts at home? What are your prediction for tomorrow's release? Will GE surprise to the upside, match estimates, or just plain leave Wall Street disappointed with a weaker than expected quarter? Let us hear your predictions.
Following the official earnings release in the morning, we will definitely get you updated on just how good of a quarter GE had.
Let's close with a quick look at how the stock has been performing over the past 3 months. As we discussed before... GE could definitely use some good news tomorrow:
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Fowlkes owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that include holdings in GE.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-17-2008 @ 11:03AM
Earl Roberts said...
I'm just hanging in there. The lower the stock goes short term, the more shares I get with my dividends.
1-17-2008 @ 10:07PM
Raymond said...
This should be the confessional hour for G enerallly E vasive. When 40% of your earnings come from financials, you do not escape without a scratch- I dont care how many wind generators you sell. The Sheriff has already taken the girls- tomorrow he takes the Piano Player. Raymond
1-17-2008 @ 3:19PM
Fred Kolovrat said...
I know as much about how the stock market is going to go in the next year as the Wall Street bunch.
Nothing. Only I admit it!!!!!!!!
Fred
1-17-2008 @ 6:00PM
Jimmy said...
This market is looking for direction and GE is going to guide us up or down. I believe they will definately meet the numbers. Immelt would not have bought $4.6 million worth out of his own pocket in the past quarter if he thought they were in trouble. Having said that, Immelt must weigh his words carefully on 'guidance'. After all the hoopla on the current numbers, the big boys will read into every word he says about the future. And if it's conservative or not very upbeat, we could see GE hit that gap at $23ish, which will take the whole market down with it. Sooooo, here's hoping Jeff has got things cookin' on all cylinders. Go GE...guide us out of the 'R' word.