General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares slid down today on mixed first-quarter results compared to the consensus forecast; the company’s healthcare segment saw rising revenue and profits.
The Boston-based company posted profits of $6.2 billion, or 72¢ per share, on sales of $20.5 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2020, for a 71% bottom-line gain on a sales decline of 7.6%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 5¢, 3¢ behind Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $20.2 billion.
GE Healthcare saw a 7% bump up in orders from last year at $5.3 billion, reporting a 1% increase in revenue at $4.7 billion and a 15% rise in profits at $896 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company has received multiple government contracts to produce ventilators under the Defense Production Act, including a recent $336 million one from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services to produce 50,000 ventilators by July 13.
The company withdrew its 2020 financial guidance given the uncertainties surrounding the financial impact of COVID-19 as time goes on.
GE shares were down -2.2% at $6.65 per share in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up 2.1%.
