On Friday, October 17, General Electric (GE) will report its third-quarter results. If analysts are on target, the company should report a profit of 40 cents per share of GE stock on $37 billion in revenue. And just for the record, GE is in the habit of topping estimates; the company has topped earnings projections nine times in the past fourteen quarters.

As is always the case, though, there’s more to the story than just one quarter’s earnings … even for a well-established blue chip equity like GE stock. Those who own — or are about to own — a stake in General Electric may want to take note of a couple of key ideas before Friday’s earnings announcement.

Earnings Outlook for General Electric

For perspective, the profit of 40 cents per share of GE stock expected in Friday’s news release compares favorably to earnings of 36 cents in the third quarter of 2013. Sales are also projected to grow from the year-ago figure of $35.7 billion.

It’s unlikely any major changes to the full-year outlook will be made. As is stands right now, analysts are expecting General Electric to earn $1.67 per share in 2014, and drive sales of $148.9 billion. That’s also better than 2013’s profit of $1.64 per share of GE stock, and its top line of $146 billion.

Although 2014’s numbers may be pretty firm, it’s possible we could start seeing revamps — hopefully in an upward direction — of 2015’s expected numbers.

The current income outlook for the coming year is $1.82 per share of GE stock, which would be 8.3% stronger than this year’s expected earnings. Yet, sales aren’t projected to grow anywhere near as much. Analysts are only looking for revenue of $150.1 billion in fiscal 2015, up a mere 0.8% from 2014’s likely level. It’s an uncharacteristically anemic outlook for General Electric, which is why it’s apt to be bolstered soon. .. if not Friday, then at some point in the foreseeable future.

The raw numbers aren’t the only important items to seek out when General Electric posts Q3 results at the end of this week, though.

Other Factors Affecting GE Stock

While sales and profits are important, they’re not the only issues at hand that could move the price of GE higher or lower. Three other themes are in play that investors will need to prep for before Friday’s announcement. While there may be little about these topics in the news release itself, look for some discussion of these matters in the conference call.

Helicopters: Although the acquisition won’t have an impact on third quarter results, General Electric recently acquired helicopter leasing business Milestone Aviation Group. Some believe this is an indirect indication that the conventional plane leasing market is getting more competitive.

Divestitures: Despite the purchase of Milestone Aviation, it’s not as if GE has exactly veiled its plans to divest some business units. It let go of its Synchrony Financial (SYF) division earlier in the year, and its GE Money Bank AB will be sold to

Banco Santander (SAN) before the end of the year. GE stock owners may want to look for more clues that this M.O. will be used to unlock value in the near future.

Back to basics: While the divestiture of misaligned divisions may be on the way, General Electric is getting back to basics — industrial and power equipment — perhaps bigger and better than ever. Its oil and gas equipment arm opened an advanced manufacturing plant last month, and it recently received a $500 million order from Exelon (EXC) for the purchase of power equipment. Given that this is the company’s bread and butter, investors may want to look for language that bodes well or offers hints as to the direction the company is taking on the energy-generation front.

General Electric is currently scheduled to release its third quarter results on Friday, before the market opens. The conference call (webcast) will begin at 8:30 am EST that day.

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As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.