http://www.thestreet.com/story/10612741/1/ge-capital-shrink-faster-than-planned.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (TheStreet) — General Electric(GE Quote) Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt defended shrinkage in the company’s financial unit Friday, as profits in the division fell by 87% versus the third quarter of last year.

“We’re shrinking GE Capital faster than we’d planned,” Immelt said during a somewhat tense Q&A session with analysts. “We think that’s on strategy. We view this as being a positive execution point.”

Immelt made the comment during a pause in the conference call after Goldman Sachs analyst Terry Darling seemed to looking for a discrepancy between GE Capital’s performance and earlier forecasts.

GE executives had said earlier in the call that they expect GE Capital to be profitable for the year, noting it has earned $2 billion so far through the third quarter. Asked for more detail by Chris Glynn, an analyst at Oppenheimer, GE CFO Keith Sherin said simply: “No.” Then he reminded Glynn the company does not give quarterly guidance for the unit.

Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Davis noted GE’s loss provisioning is less than most banks, asking Sherin to explain the discrepancy. Sherin initially said GE’s portfolio is different from that of banks, but as Davis persisted, Sherin said: “We’re not going to comment on [what] banks do versus what we do.” In a report sent shortly after the call, Davis reiterated his “overweight” rating on the company, noting that GE is generating more cash than he had forecast. As for GE Capital, he wrote “provisioning improved in the quarter but remains too light in our opinion.”

The questions on the provisioning issue continued however, with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch analyst John Inch asking whether GE planned to set aside more capital in the future against losses. GE executives were non-committal , but defended the provisioning they have done so far as more than adequate.

GE Capital, which has grown dramatically over the past decade, has become the most controversial segment of the parent company’s business, and analysts and investors vary widely in their view of the extent of unrealized losses in its loan portfolio . Immelt has made a commitment to shrinking the business and returning GE to its industrial roots.

Third-quarter revenue for the unit totaled $12.2 billion, compared to $12.8 billion in the second quarter, and $17.2 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

GE shares were down more than 5% to $15.94 Friday morning. It earned 27 cents a share for the third quarter), above the 20 cents forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters but total sales came in short of Wall Street’s expectations.

Now if anyone can’t read between the above lines…you should do need help!

After 8 plus years the only thin Immelt has done is continue to destroy the lifelong savings of many while making himself rich.

There is no doubt that JI and the BOD are crooks who could care less for the shareholder.

JI and his cronies, including the BOD should all be replaced.

I don’t need to cry about GE!

The day Mr Immelt took over as CEO, I had a whopping 50 shares of GE stock. My cost basis was around 50. Today, I have 1,927 shares. My cost basis is currently somewhere around 18. I don’t know what you’re doing, but my position since 2001 has grown by TEN FOLD. I didn’t start adding to my position aggressively until this year. Thus there is absolutely NO correlation between “investment performance” and Investor Return.

Since you are no longer a GE shareholder, why don’t you start acting like a grown man, stop crying, and get on with the rest of your life. After all, according to your most recent post, you haven’t held any shares in over 8 YEARS!

Folks let’s face it….the world needs new DOGS at GE Capital to run this messy ship.

Thanks for listen.

Friday, October 16, 2009
General Electric; Jeff Immelt: FAIL (GE)

http://climateerinvest.blogspot.com/2009/10/general-electric-jeff-immelt-fail-ge.html

I’ve been asked why I am so negative on GE. The short answer: The wealth destruction that this company has visited on it’s shareholders is simply breathtaking.

On the day Jeff Immelt took over as CEO, September 10, 2001, the stock closed at a split adjusted $30.13. In early pre-market trade this morning it is changing hands at $16.31.

That is a compounded rate of just under negative eight percent per year.

Is it any wonder that GE has decided their future lies in lobbying the government to mandate their products? From light bulbs, where they and Phillips basically wrote the law that will ban incandescent lamps, in the process shutting down all U.S. manufacturing and shipping the jobs to China, to lobbying for the $300 million “Cash for Refrigerators” that starts later this month, to lobbying to stall the cleanup of the Hudson of their PCB waste, to lobbying for the hog-trough of giveaways that is cap-and-trade, these folks epitomize Immelt’s statement:

It’s never been a free market; it’s never gonna be a free market. That’s just the way it is….
Here’s OpenSecrets on GE’s lobbying expenditures.

Do I need to say more….Thomas edmonds, Gary Johnson and Longterm Investor????

I sold all my GE stock the day that Immelt place the GE Appliances business for sale…Immelt’s biggest and stupiest mistake…how can you place the company name business for sale???

I am reinvesting the covered call premiums and the dividends back into GE so I can compound. I have a 30 year outlook.