Earnings Preview for General Electric: Analysts, Options, Chart, Hearsay

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General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is set to report earnings early Friday morning before the open. The latest Thomson Reuters consensus was $0.43 EPS on revenue of about $38.7 billion. If GE details its guidance for the quarter or year ahead, these consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are as follows:

  • Q1-13: $0.36 EPS and $35.46 billion in revenue

  • FY-13: $1.67 EPS and $149.7 billion in revenue

GE returned well in 2012 and it was recently featured as one of the DJIA stocks with the most implied upside for 2013. GE even peaked at $23.18 before settling lower and now shares are around $21.30. The Thomson Reuters consensus price target from Wall Street analysts is $24.71 as of now and that number is higher than what it had been even late in 2012. We would note that UBS recently took it off of the firm's Key Call List of Stocks to Buy.

Jeff Immelt is still on top after moving out the majority of NBC/Universal and his promise has been more bolt-on acquisitions rather than trying to gobble up a newer and much larger acquisition strategy that GE had been known for in the past.

As far as GE's stock chart, there is some pretty substantial support underneath at the 20-day moving average ($20.93 today). If that does not hold, the key 200-day moving average held as strong support in November and again at the end of December when it looked like the U.S. was going over the fiscal cliff. We would note that GE has not really been under its 200-day moving average except on a "technical test" since December of 2011.

Options are hard to use with no time value left since tomorrow is options expiration date. That being said, options traders using the closest out of the money strikes look to be expecting a share price move of only up to about $0.40 in either direction.

Tune in early Friday morning.


Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Conglomerates, Earnings, Infrastructure Tagged: GE

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