Let’s take a look at General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which released better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings last week.
Is it time to buy GE? Find out now.
General Electric – Company Profile
For the past 125 years, General Electric has been a company that has exemplified American ingenuity.
Throughout the years, GE has been responsible for inventing the fluorescent lamp, the dishwasher, the toaster oven, the MRI and the first U.S. jet engine.
However, even though General Electric is best-known for its consumer electronics and appliances as well as industrial machinery, GE also has businesses branching into media, healthcare, transportation and finance.
Operating in over 100 countries, GE currently employs 305,000 people worldwide and is the 17th largest business in the world in terms of sales.
General Electric – Earnings Rundown
In the fourth quarter, GE stock’s earnings jumped 61% compared with the same quarter last year. General Electric posted $5.15 billion net earnings, or 51 cents per share, missing analysts’ estimates of 55 cents per share.
Meanwhile, revenue increased 4% year-on-year to $42 billion. Fiscal year 2014 revenue rose 2% to 148.6 billion, while net earnings increased 17% to $15.2 billion.
According to CEO Jeffrey Immelt, GE expects “double-digit Industrial operating EPS growth; 2%-5% industrial segment organic revenue growth; margin expansion; a smaller GE Capital; $12-$15 billion in free cash flow including dispositions; and $10 billion+ returned to shareowners” in fiscal year 2015.
General Electric – Current Rating
Before you buy any stock, you should always run it through my free Portfolio Grader ratings system. While GE is clearly making strides in terms of earnings, it’s still not enough to move it out of “sell” territory.
First, General Electric’s buying pressure is very weak, earnings D for its Quantitative grade. Next, GE stock’s fundamentals do not fair any better.
Out of the eight metrics I screened GE on, six score Cs and Ds. Only two metrics scored solid B grades; earnings momentum and return on equity. Overall, GE earns a C for its Fundamental grade.
As of this posting, GE is a D-rated “sell.”
Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of five investing newsletters: Blue Chip Growth, Emerging Growth, Ultimate Growth, Family Trust and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Blue Chip Growth, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters.
