GE

[hendi_alex]

GE has over sized exposure to the energy sector, and is most heavily skew toward oil and gas. The company is scheduled to share its 2015 outlook with investors and that could generate some more downside in the share price. I'm holding existing shares, but will not add until the energy related risk gets factored into share price. The article linked below says that 25% of GE's revenue from the industrial segment comes from the oil and gas division. I would think that contracts go out quite far, so perhaps 2015 won't be hit quite so hard, but IMO investors will still punish because of fear of erosion in future contracts.

Will General Electric's 2015 Oil and Gas Outlook Scare Investors?

[earthtodan]

I was starting to get bored with my 3.5% position in GE, with its weak dividend raise and too-big-to-manage, too-big-to-analyze business model, but today was not a boring day. I can't place a valuation on the news, but they basically pulled the curtain off of a 3-year plan to do what everyone has been talking about and waiting for patiently (or impatiently) by freeing up $26B of financial assets and aggressively buying back shares. I did not sell any shares and I don't plan on adding at this level, but I will add if it falls back to the previous trading range. With a 3%+ yield and a 5%+ buyback, it now offers at least an 8% shareholder yield, before growth. As for dividend growth, the dividend will naturally increase by the amount of the share count reduction without the company having to pay out more money; i.e., if the share count reduces 5%, the dividend per share increases 5% on the same amount of money paid out. The rest is upside.

I noticed a while ago that SYF (the traded symbol for GE Capital) has increased 30% from its IPO, but GE did not get pulled up along with it, even though they still own 80%. That should have been a signal to add shares, but I passed on the opportunity.

Jeff is also talking about using capital for industrial acquisitions, so it will be interesting to see what he buys for us.

[Roadmap2Retire]

Jeff Immelt tweeted this yesterday showing how they have been returning back to their industrial roots for a few years now.

GE Portfolio from 2001 to today

[rayray]

He's also a big believer in the Industrial Internet, that GE has a fairly large and growing software platform.

[Roadmap2Retire]

(04-13-2015, 02:31 PM)rayray Wrote: He's also a big believer in the Industrial Internet, that GE has a fairly large and growing software platform.

Thats right. GE has been working with Eric Reis (who's book The Lean Startup was a huge hit, and coincidentally I just started reading over the weekend) in trying to get a huge behemoth like GE to run like a startup.

General Electric Wants to Act Like a Startup

[Roadmap2Retire]

Looks like no div raise from GE this year

General Electric (NYSE:GE) declares $0.23/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.
Forward yield 3.04%
Payable Jan. 25; for shareholders of record Dec. 21; ex-div Dec. 17.

http://seekingalpha.com/news/2979496-gen...3-dividend#