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General Electric(NYSE:GE)is blaming its huge Q1 miss on the financial markets, and Bear Stearns NYSE:BSC) specifically.

Two weeks before the end of the quarter, GE CEO Immelt did a webcast in which he said the quarter was great. Implication? Load up on the stock. And now everyone who did is hosed.

What happened? Jeff Immelt wants us to blame those nasty market conditions, the ones that were apparently unforeseeable two days before they occurred. Please. Jeff and GE shouldn't compound this disaster by further damaging their already clobbered credibility. The credit crunch started last summer.

But GE's problem isn't just the credit crunch and Bears' collapse. For example, NBC Universal was also a laggard. It posted revenue growth of 3% and profit growth of 3%; in January, GE had predicted 10% revenue growth and profit increases of 5-10%.

NBC U isn't the most important part of GE's portfolio, so it's understandable that during the earnings call this morning, analysts didn't demand an explanation of what happened with Jeff Zucker's unit. But we sure would love an answer. The best-case scenario for the NBC U division: Zucker and his lieutenants underestimated the effects of the writers strike. Worst-case scenario: It's reflective of a larger decline in the advertising business.

UPDATE FROM CONFERENCE CALL: Pathetic GE: Blame Bear Stearns For Our Mess.

See Also: NBCU: Strike Has "No Noticeable Impact" On Q4

Peter Kafka is managing editor at Silicon Alley Insider.

GE's problem isn't just Bear - NBC underperforming, too originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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