GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) saw its 4th-quarter profits slide 4.0% on sales growth of just 0.3% for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2014, although the industrial conglomerate still topped earnings expectations by a penny.
Profits for GE Healthcare were $1.02 billion on sales of $5.13 billion during the quarter. Full-year profits for the division were $3.05 billion on sales of $18.30 billion, leading to a flat bottom line on 0.5% sales growth compared with 2013.
Overall Q4 profits for GE rose 61% to $5.15 billion, or 51¢ per share, on a 4% sales increase to $42 billion. Excluding 1-time items, earnings per share were 56¢, 1¢ cent ahead of analysts’ expectations on Wall Street.
"GE ended the year with strong 4th-quarter industrial earnings and margin growth. The environment remains volatile, but we continue to see infrastructure growth opportunities. We are pleased with our execution in 2014: Meeting our commitment to grow industrial segment profits 10%, industrial segment organic revenue growth of 7%, increasing operating margins [by] 50 basis points, decreasing costs by $1.2 billion, reducing the size of GE Capital and returning $11 billion to shareowners," chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt said in prepared remarks.
GE said U.S. orders rose 9% for the healthcare business, paced by a 17% jump in equipment orders.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.
