GE Can't Catch a Break

GE's free fall, exacerbated by last week's dividend cut after several assurances that it was safe through 2009, has now brought the stock to under $6 per share (at the time of this post). Even with this low share price, GE still remains one of the 25 largest companies in the S&P 500 with a market cap of $62.8 bln. But it has been falling fast. Today alone, four stocks (highlighted in green below) have overtaken General Electric in terms of market cap. While GE once battled Exxon (XOM) for the title of the largest company in the world, it now has the not so coveted distinction of being the only company in the top 25 with a stock price in the single digits.

Comments

[herbert hoover:]

And for this Immelt earned a 13 million dollar bonus last year? And we wonder why the public thinks that Congressmen are mor ehonorable than business leaders.

Mar 04 01:02 PM

[drbob66:]

Market cap at any particular moment in time means nothing in this volatile environment...and neither does this article.

Stock prices are currently being determined by a bunch of trend-trading lunatics (and probably by a fair number of computer algorithms). Someday fundamentals will matter again...but not yet.

Mar 04 01:48 PM

[User 369609:]

Look again, Immelt was awarded that bonus, but declined it due to the stock price weakness. I wish our congressmen were as principled.

Jobe


On Mar 04 01:02 PM Herbert Hoover wrote:

> And for this Immelt earned a 13 million dollar bonus last year? And
> we wonder why the public thinks that Congressmen are mor ehonorable
> than business leaders.

Mar 04 02:09 PM

[Dante311:]

"Stock prices are currently being determined by a bunch of trend-trading lunatics (and probably by a fair number of computer algorithms). Someday fundamentals will matter again...but not yet."

If this statement is true and the stock prices are completely incorrectly priced by trend traders wouldn't it be safe to say that is could indeed be vastly undervalued?

Mar 04 02:57 PM

[stockdoc123:]

Immelt goes and the stock will sore

Mar 04 03:26 PM

[James Quinn:]

seekingalpha.com/artic...

Mar 04 03:39 PM

[Stockguy456:]

James thanks for the link - great article

Mar 04 03:43 PM

[Bocaboym22:]

I believe the idiom is "the pot calling the kettle black" Our senators bankrupt a country and fly around on private jets and they get a pension for life!
Let's not forget how many people GE employs without using my tax dollars. Their CEO's salary and stock options are not paid for with my tax money.
Once a company loses as much money as the US senate has in the last 2 years, then they can talk about cutting executive pay. Until our senators cut their pay and go without their jets I do not want them to talk about what others do.
AIG lost 62 billion (240 Billion IF it is annualized) of their own dollars. The US Senate lost 1.5 trillion of ours! That means our government is 5 times more poorly managed then AIG. Think about that!

Mar 04 04:09 PM

[Bocaboym22:]

Oh I am sorry . . .our country doesn't lose money, it's just a deficit!

Mar 04 04:26 PM

[golferboy426:]

The fact that Immelt's contract even resulted in a bonus is a disgrace. It's time to legislate corporate executive pay and tie it to the average worker

Mar 04 04:36 PM

[happyfella:]

GE is stock is not at all low...only at 1994 level, The $6.00 is due to the many stock splits in the past..Most Industrial companies are at the low 1983 level .see .International paper, Dow chemicals etc. Most companies will report better earnings in the next several quarters due to the massive head count reductions and lower raw material cost, even as the pain and suffering by most people continue on for several years.

asb

Mar 04 05:15 PM

[ThinkRight:]

Have heard about falling knives before, but falling sword?

Mar 04 06:40 PM

[t. Concerned:]

It's real simple. Forget the numbers forget all of that crap. Ge capital is a black hole. All of those BRILLIANT analysis say one thing one day and something else the next day.

I have a BS/BA and I see it this way. Hey Jeff you own a friggin media outlet.

Get infront of the public and articulate the status of GE capital, if you don't know, then have one of your educated MBA boys explain to the market what the WHOLE company is worth.

The market moves on perception, in todays time, and for God's sake communicate what the bottom line is.

It's just that simple.

Oh by the way, Jeff, thanks for taking my 401K to nothing.

Either get it together or move on. Don't forget perception turns in to reality if you do not stop it in its track.

I left GE 15 years ago, believed in the company and you have let me down. I never bowed to jack nor will I bow to you.

Any comment????

Mar 04 08:52 PM

[Old Wizard:]

I also held my stock because Immelt said the dividend was secure for 2009. Since that statement the stock is worth .3 of its value at the time of his statement .This loss of income is substantial due to the drastic reduction in the dividend and he should be held responsible for misleading those of us who remained loyal to the company and believed him. The legacy of Jack Welch is also tarnished, since he presided over making GE capital half of the company at the expense of the engineering and development of new products, the very factor that made GE the powerhouse in past times.

Mar 05 01:32 PM