Collapse of profits for General Electric and stock in free fall on Wall Street.
In the second quarter of 2017, the US giant's profits fell by 57%, dropping from 2,76 billion in the same period last year to 1,19 billion today. Earnings per share, on the other hand, came in at 28 cents from the previous 51, a result that in any case exceeds the estimates of analysts who forecast a profit of 25 cents per share.
Down too revenues, down to 29,56 billion (-12%), a figure that also in this case exceeds market expectations by 29,02 billion dollars.
As GE points out in a note, second-quarter results were impacted in large part by the sale of the appliance business, but cash flow also increased thanks to a $670 million cost cut in the period.
The American multinational that produces energy systems, aircraft engines, scanners for medical use and other industrial equipment expects to reach the target of cutting costs for a total of one billion dollars by the end of the year. According to Jeff Immelt, number one of Ge "the global scale of our company, together with our ability to innovate leading industrial products and services, will help us navigate in the current environment and unleash productivity across our businesses and markets".
Although the results are higher than analysts' expectations, at the opening of Wall Street, the title was hit by a veritable rain of sales and is currently down 4,72% at $25,46. Excluding today's performance, GE is down 15,5% year-to-date and down 12% over the past 18,6 months.
