General Electric (GE) closed at $12.95 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.31% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 0.09% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.6%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the industrial conglomerate had gained 1.8% over the past month. This has lagged the Conglomerates sector’s gain of 5.89% and the S&P 500’s gain of 4.45% in that time.
GE will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect GE to post earnings of $0.01 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 80%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $17.6 billion, down 14.23% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $0.24 per share and revenue of $79.08 billion. These totals would mark changes of +2300% and -0.68%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for GE. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.8% lower. GE currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Looking at its valuation, GE is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 55.28. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.19, so we one might conclude that GE is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that GE has a PEG ratio of 13.01. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. GE’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.02 as of yesterday’s close.
The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, which puts it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
