GregT

The BofA / Merrill Mess - A Misguided Mob Goes After the Wrong Guy

Worthless rambling without any real insight.

GE's Immelt Buys Shares - Should You?

Immelt also bought shares when they were such a good value in the low 30's. Not only was his past purchase a dumb move from an investing perspective, it was also a terribly stupid move considering that GE would be missing earnings estimates shortly after his purchase. To put it in simple terms, it shows that even the CEO of the company has no idea how well or poorly the company is doing.

Just consider that GE has stopped raising it's dividend for the first time in over 30 years. Consider that GE had to pay Buffett 10% to borrow money. Is that the kind of rate that a real AAA rated company should be paying?

The main theme over the past year has always been that things turn out worse than they appear. GE has continued to surprise on the downside with both earnings and news.

Trying to guess when these surprises will end is simply a gamble.

GE Finally Joins Victims of Financial Crisis

While I like the Buffet investment in GE. I wonder if this is the end of the road for GE disappointments. They have been disappointing investors all year. And the communication has been TERRIBLE. Here is the scene. The stock starts going down, GE says things couldn't be better and there are no problems. A week or so later, GE issues reduced guidance, holds their div for the first time in 30 years while claiming that things are still great and they will keep their AAA rating. Of and they have absolutely no commercial paper problems. Then a few days later they annouce the Buffet deal and a stock dilution.

In my book, this is a company that is just short of dishonest and doing the spin doctor thing. Time for a new CEO.

First Time in Thirty Years - GE Won't Raise Dividend

Good article and a few good comments as well. I tend to agree with those who see a great deal of value in GE, but also see reason to worry. The press releases last week stated that GE would stop the buyback, reduce earnings projections and "maintain" the dividend. No one focused on the lack of a dividend increase.

One of the big benefits of being a dividend investor is that you realize that "dividends don't lie." When a company stops increasing the dividend they are signaling trouble. Why wasn't the dividend increased a token 1% or so? Why stop a run of 3 decades of dividend increases? Because, as most have pointed out, things are not good.

Are all of the problems reflected in the stock price? Maybe most of them are, but we've had a lot of surprises from this once very consistent company.

GE: Struggling Short-Term, But Should Do Fine Long-Term

The big risks are credit ratings downgrade or unexpected writedowns in the financial services unit.

However, if neither of these happens by the time they report quarterly earnings, we should see some strength in the stock. There are big advantages in this market to having a AAA credit rating. GE will be able to do deals profitably that others won't. Take a look at WFC. They have lots of access to cheap capital and they have grown their revenues tremendously because their competitors are having trouble.

It's not often that you can get a company with this kind of quality at such a good price.