GE has under performed the market for over two years now and the stock price is 65% lower than it was ten years ago as the chart below indicates.



Given the dismal recent past and the concerns about GE Capital, what can we expect in the near future?

Let's get specific; General Electric is a major supplier of turbine aircraft engines to the world, but the world is buying less of them as the industry, along with the global economy, has been in absolute turmoil. And Boeing has postponed delivery of its new Dreamliner aircraft how many times? At least five if memory serves me correctly. Immelt cannot simply will the industry forward.

What about the generator business, windmill business, or water desalination and purification businesses? These all require large capital expenses at a time when most businesses and every government have been running up huge deficits. Hard to grow the company when nothing else is.

Maybe the entertainment division might be doing better if the entire industry was not in flux with the internet, piracy, computer gaming, and content delivery methods all bouncing around and every major competitor hurting too. The only way GE and Immelt could improve the short term picture would be if Jeffrey could turn into a superhero. Which one would do the best job against this backdrop? The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) announced the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) this week for $4 billion. Would investors have been happy if GE had bought them instead?

The bottom line for me is that Immmelt is managing a ship full of cyclical businesses that is simply too big and still needs to be scaled down. That is the only thing I can fault him for. Beyond that, I side with "my pal Warren" that this is the time to invest when the shares are selling for less than they have been in a generation and that GE is a leader in many good business.

Some folks have commented that they will not buy anything General Electric makes. They must be living in a cave, because that would mean not flying, not getting an MRI, not using electricity, not watching television or going to the movies, and in some cases not even drinking the water. Come to think of it, there are some people that caution "don't drink the water" -- perhaps they are living in a cave?

If you are among those that think Immelt should have to take a long walk on a short plank, what are some of the things you wish he had done, or should be doing now?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture and planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own stock and actively trade options in GE.