
General Electric (NYSE:GE) said today that its GE Healthcare division posted 2nd-quarter profit gains despite flat sales, as the parent conglomerate beat Wall Street’s earnings forecast by a penny.
GE Healthcare logged profits of $726 million on sales of $4.49 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for a bottom-line gain of 4.6% but a top-line slip of 0.2%. Orders for the division grew 9% compared with Q2 2012, according to a press release.
GE’s overall profits were $3.13 billion, or 30¢ per share, on sales of $35.12 billion for the quarter. That represents profit growth of just 09.% on a sales decline of 3.5%.
But GE shares are up anyway today, as adjusted earnings per share beat Wall Street’s forecast by a penny, at 36¢ apiece. GE stock was trading at $24.69 per share as of about noon today, up 4.5%.
"In the second quarter, GE achieved industrial segment profit growth in 6 of 7 businesses, reduced structural costs, and continued to invest in growth," chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt said in prepared remarks. "We executed in a business environment that was slightly improved versus the first quarter. Emerging markets remain resilient, and in the U.S. we saw strong growth in orders this quarter. Europe is stabilizing but still challenged. We expect margin expansion to continue and segment profits to grow in the 2nd half of the year."