Boston, MA 07/23/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Shares of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) rose 0.57% to close at $24.76 in its last trading session. This got close to the higher end of its 52-week price range of $19.45 to $24.95. Also, shares remained heavily traded, with 46.56 million shares exchanging hands, as against an average volume of 41.31 million shares.
This was in the backdrop of improving outlook for the U.S. economy, coupled with signs of stabilization in Europe that sent General Electric to their highest since 2008, despite reporting moderate quarterly results. Emerging markets too responded positively. GE’s net income reported an increase in income of 6%, raising expectations of further growth in the second half.
This recovery has instilled confidence of investors in the company. The company has also focused on shrinking its banking division, the financial services arm that could have been the reason for ultimate disappearance of the company during the financial crisis. It had also shed its media and other non-industrial businesses, to become a more focused industrial conglomerate. Further, orders for subsea oil blowout preventers, jet engines, and other energy and aviation products comprise large chunk of backlogs which are considered to be company’s forte, have increased, thereby making shareholders all the more optimistic about company’s future.
The Q2 results of the company is conceived to be much better, after the company reported a gloomy Q1 result, which had sent the future prospects of the company to doldrums. Profits however fell in the second quarter, mainly due to a smaller financial unit, which GE has been phasing out ever since it was hit by the financial crisis in 2008, in order to reduce its risk.
However, such recovery is not complete for GE, which has to raise by another 15%, to reach approximately $30 per share, the price they were trading before the financial crisis hit it.
