General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw its fourth-quarter and annual numbers slide, but its GE Healthcare division managed to increase its sales and profits for both periods.
GE Healthcare’s Q4 profits rose 12.5% to $1.16 billion on sales growth of 5.9% to $5.40 billion; full year profits were up 9.1% to $3.45 billion on sales growth of 4.5% to $19.12 billion.
Boston-based GE posted overall Q4 losses of -$9.83 billion, or -$1.13 per share, on a sales decline of -5.1% to $31.40 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017, compared with Q4 2016.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 27¢, 2¢ below the consensus estimate on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $34.06 billion.
Full-year losses came in at -$6.22 billion, or -72¢ per share, on a sales decline of -1.3% to $122.09 billion compared to 2016. Adjusted EPS were $1.05, a penny under The Street, where the expectation was for sales of $124.92 billion.
“In the fourth quarter, EPS was at the low-end of guidance, excluding insurance-related items, U.S. tax reform, and industrial portfolio actions. Cash performance was above expectations and our visibility and execution on cash is improving. Aviation and Healthcare had strong performances in the quarter. Power was down significantly and we expect market challenges to continue. Our results this quarter demonstrate some of the early progress we are seeing from our key initiatives. The team is focused on operational execution, capital allocation and deep cost reduction to position us for continued improvement in 2018,” chairman & CEO John Flannery said in prepared remarks.
GE shares were up 2.4% to $17.28 apiece today in pre-market trading.
