Investopedia: GE Still On A Road To Recovery

For a company as large as General Electric (NYSE:GE), it's basically a given that every quarter will have both good and bad news. Although GE's margins are a cause for concern, and perhaps part of a broader worry about whether corporate America has seen the best of this metric, the order rate is still solid and the company has gone a long way towards fixing the mess left from the credit crunch. (For more, read Earnings Power Drives Stocks.)

Mixed Results for the Third Quarter 

GE's reported consolidated revenue fell just slightly, with reported revenue from GE's non-finance operations down about 2%. On an organic basis, though, GE's industrial revenue rose about 8%. Growth was quite strong in the energy, oil/gas and transportation segments, while the home and business segment,which includes appliances, was fairly weak.

Profitability was not as impressive, though. Reported operating income was up about 15%, but that included a fairly sizable contribution from the improvement at GE Capital. The industrial business, though, saw profits drop about 1%. On the other hand, adjusted operating earnings from continuing ops were up about 11%. All in all, GE continues to make progress, but shareholders cannot rest too easily with those margins.

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