Pj568

General Electric: Not Quite a Value Trap, More Like a Value Pit

Every company with a large financial services segment now has a bad balance sheet. Its amazing that the stellar balance sheets from two years ago, haven't changed significantly and are now viewed in an entirely different light. Look at Caterpillar, IBM and Boeing where the financing arms play a major role just like at GE. If they have higher quality investments than the banks did, they should be able to delever with less pain although they will take some hits along the way.

The pitiful GM balance sheet even improved significantly when they sold controlling interest in GMAC and no longer had to include it in their consolidated statements.