GE's Fourth-Quarter Results: Focusing For The Future

Today, GE released its fourth-quarter results for 2017, reporting $0.27 of adjusted earnings per share. Significant one-time charges in the quarter—including an insurance charge, U.S. tax reform, and planned portfolio moves—totaled $1.49 of EPS, and excluding these charges, EPS was at the low end of guidance for the year at $1.05.
Cash in the fourth quarter was significantly higher than planned; industrial CFOA was $9.7 billion, versus guidance of $7 billion. About half of that was better execution and half was the timing of collections moving into the quarter from 2018. Visibility and execution on cash is improving. GE reduced structural cost by $1.7 billion for the year, versus an initial target of $1 billion.

“Our results this quarter demonstrate some of the early progress we are seeing from our key initiatives,” said GE Chairman and CEO John Flannery. “The team is focused on operational execution, capital allocation and deep cost reduction to position us for continued improvement in 2018.”

Top: GE started testing the GE9X, the world's largest jet engine. GE Aviation developed the engine for Boeing's next-generation 777X passenger jets. Image credit: GE Aviation. Above: GE Renewable's 6-megawatt offshore Haliade wind turbine. Five of these turbines power America's first offshore wind farm near Block Island, Rhode Island. Image credit: GE Renewables.

GE's Aviation and Healthcare units drove strong orders and margins in the quarter. Digital had a strong performance with Predix-powered orders up 41 percent. Power earnings were down 88 percent, driven by the market, execution misses, and adjustments. The business will continue to be a work in progress throughout 2018.

GE highlighted several deals and important partnerships from the quarter. GE Renewable Energy is partnering with GE Energy Financial Services to provide 179 wind turbines to the Markbygden wind farm in Sweden, the largest single-site onshore wind farm in Europe.

GE Healthcare announced a partnership with Roche to integrate both in vitro and in vivo patient data in real time to enable faster diagnosis and decision support. The partnership will initially focus on products that accelerate and improve individualized treatment options for cancer and critical care patients.



Materials for the event are now available on GE's investor website. Sign up for GE's investor newsletter to learn more over the coming weeks.

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