þGeneral Electric on Friday reported higher quarterly profit and revenue, and further evidence that it is steadily relying more on its industrial business.þþIn the fourth quarter of 2014, G.E.’s net income rose to $5.2 billion and delivered operating earnings per share of 56 cents, a 6 percent increase from the year-ago quarter. The result was slightly above the average estimate of analysts, of 55 cents a share, as compiled by Thomson Reuters.þþThe company’s quarterly revenue rose 4 percent to $42 billion, which was just below the Wall Street consensus of $42.1 billion.þþG.E. has pursued a strategy of paring back its big finance unit GE Capital and expanding its industrial business since the financial crisis. Today, the company is on track to reach its goal of cutting the earnings contribution from its finance arm to a quarter of the corporate total by next year, down from nearly half.þþG.E. has returned to its roots as a manufacturer of industrial equipment including jet engines, gas turbines, locomotives and medical-imaging equipment. Its biggest move to date, agreeing to buy the energy-generation business of Alstom of France, came last year in a transaction that is expected to close later this year.þþIn a sign of continued improvement, G.E. last month increased its quarterly dividend for the seventh time in five years. Still, at 23 cents a share, the quarterly dividend remains below the 31 cents a share G.E. paid until February 2009, when it cut the payout by 10 cents, the first time the company cut its dividend since the Great Depression.þþThe steep drop in oil prices, G.E. executives warned last month, may well hit profits over the course of 2015. The company’s division selling equipment for oil and gas drilling and production accounts for about 15 percent of the earnings from its industrial business.þþBut equipment orders typically trail oil-price movements by six to 12 months, and G.E.’s oil and gas business held up fairly well in the fourth quarter, with operating profits rising 1 percent to $814 million while revenue declined 6 percent to $5 billion.þ
Source: NY Times
