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General Electric may dump its rail car division

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) may be close to selling its rail car leading division to GATX Corp. (NYSE: GMT). According to Bloomberg, GATX plans to "invest more aggressively" during a financial slowdown.

While the unloading of the division may help GE begin its process of moving slow-growing divisions out of its portfolio, it is likely to be seen on Wall Street as a minor deal and part of a process that is taking much to long. GE has several much larger businesses that drag on its earnings. Those include NBC Universal, the company's industrial division, and its medical supply operations.

GE's resistance to act more quickly to divest operations that no longer help accelerate EPS growth is one of the great business mysteries of the last four or five year. The company's stock still trades well below its 52-week high of $42.15.

GE knows what Wall Street wants, but it appears that the company simply does not care.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Analyst upgrades: ELOS, CEL, GMT and TNS

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Syneron Medical, Cellcom Israel, GATX Corp and TNS, Inc were today's noteworthy upgrades:
  • Merriman upgraded shares of Syneron Medical (NASDAQ:ELOS) to Buy from Neutral following the Q1 results to reflect the introduction of LipoLite and the company's global distribution channel. They believe shares can trade towards the $22-$26 level.
  • Jefferies upgraded Cellcom Israel (NYSE:CEL) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q1 results to reflect its improved EBITDA outlook.
  • Morgan Keegan upgraded GATX (NYSE:GMT) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company has increased opportunities to deploy capital given the current state of the market for railcars, which should result in share outperformance.
  • Suntrust raised TNS, Inc (NYSE:TNS) to Buy from Neutral citing improved execution and the global shift towards electronic transactions.
OTHER UPGRADES:

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 10, 2012: 11:51 PM

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