GE Investor FAQs: Financial Terms, Glossary, Commercial Paper

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FAQs

For definitions of financial terms used throughout the Investor Relations section, please refer to our glossary.

Investors

When does GE release its earnings?

GE does not have official dates as to when exactly earnings are released. As a guideline, the following are the dates when we've released earnings in the last few years.

First Quarter Second Quarter Third Quarter Fourth Quarter
4/11/03 7/11/03 10/10/03 1/16/04
4/8/04 7/9/04 10/8/04 1/21/05
4/15/05 7/15/05 10/14/05 1/20/06
4/13/06 7/14/06 10/13/06 1/19/07
4/13/07 7/13/07 10/12/07 1/18/08
4/11/08 7/11/08 10/10/08 1/23/09
4/17/09 7/17/09 10/16/09 1/22/10
What is the CUSIP Number for GE Common Stock?

3 6 9 6 0 4 1 0 3

How many stock splits have there been on GE Common Stock?
Year Ratio Certificate Date/Pay Date
2000 3-for-1 5-May-00
1997 2-for-1 9-May-97
1994 2-for-1 13-May-94
1987 2-for-1 22-May-87
1983 2-for-1 1-Jun-83
1971 2-for-1 7-Jun-71
1954 3-for-1 11-Jun-54
1930 4-for-1 Contact Us
1926 4-for-1 Contact Us
When will GE have its next stock split?

GE Common Stock last split (3-for-1) in May of the year 2000. There is no hard-and-fast rule governing when we might split our stock. However, the last few times we've split, the stock price was trading over $100 per share when the board made its recommendation to Shareowners that they vote to split the stock.

When was the last time GE increased its quarterly dividend rate?

GE last raised its dividend on December 11, 2007, from $0.28 quarterly to $0.31 quarterly. That dividend increase marked the 32nd consecutive year in which GE raised its dividend. GE has paid a dividend every quarter since 1899. On February 27, 2009 the Board of Directors authorized a plan to reduce GE's quarterly dividend to $0.10 from $0.31 per outstanding share of common stock, effective for the second half of 2009.

See our Dividend Schedule webpage for a recent history of our dividends.

Does GE have a Share Repurchase Program?

During 2007, GE repurchased 357.9 million shares for a total of $13.9 billion. As part of an effort to further strengthen the GE Capital balance sheet GE announced suspension of its stock buyback plan on September 25, 2008, after repurchasing $3.5 billion of GE stock through the third quarter of 2008.

Does GE have a Dividend Reinvestment Plan?

GE Stock Direct is GE's dividend reinvestment and share purchase plan.

When was GE incorporated & stock first issued?

GE was incorporated in the state of New York on April 15, 1892.

1,000 shares of $100 par value were sold for $100 per share.

How long has GE been listed/traded on the NYSE?

GE was traded on the NYSE for the first time on June 23, 1892. There was one trade (vs. millions of trades today) of 50 shares at $108 per share.

Baby Bonds

What are these other trading symbols I've seen on the exchanges: GEA, GED, GEC, GER, GEG, GEJ, GEP, and GEPRA? Does GE have preferred stock?

GE does not have any preferred stock outstanding that is available to the public. However, GE does have $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock in a private offering to Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.

These symbols belong to what we refer to as Baby Bonds (a fixed income debt product) -- senior unsecured obligations of General Electric Capital Corporation. They are called Baby Bonds because of the small par amount of $25.

The symbol "GEP" is for GECC's Step-Up bond. Step-Up Bonds are multi-coupon notes, bearing a coupon that resets to a level higher than the previous coupon if the bond is not called. The bonds are callable and the initial coupon is fixed until the first call date.

These bonds are offered directly to investors through 325 non-affiliated broker dealers. For more information on any of the GE Capital Bonds products, contact your financial advisor.

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