GE posts surprising adjusted profit

Per-share earnings of 6 cents topped analysts’ predictions of 6 cent loss

eneral Electric narrowed its losses in its third quarter as it trimmed expenses and managed to post an adjusted profit that surprised Wall Street.

GE lost $1.19 billion (U.S.), or 14 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. A year earlier the Boston-based company lost $9.47 billion, or 15 cents per share.

Earnings, adjusted for onetime costs and asset impairment costs, were six cents per share. That beat the expectations of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research, who were calling for a loss of six cents per share.

Total costs and expenses dropped to $20.56 billion from $24.77 billion.

“We are managing through a still-difficult environment with better operational execution across our businesses, and we are on track with our cost and cash actions,” CEO H. Lawrence Culp Jr. said in a statement.

GE lowered its debt by $2.6 billion in the third quarter. For the year to date, it has reduced debt by $11.7 billion, including $8.1 billion in GE Industrial debt and $3.6 billion in GE Capital debt.

Quarterly revenue declined to $19.42 billion from $23.36 billion, but still topped the $19.15 billion that analysts predicted.

Shares of General Electric Co. rose 32 cents, or 4.51 per cent, to $7.42 at market’s close on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, GE said that federal regulators may take action against it for possible violations of securities laws, signalling a new phase in ongoing federal investigations into the company’s accounting practices.

GE is the subject of several federal investigations. The SEC has been looking into the company’s $22-billion writedown of its power division, which was disclosed two years ago. The company has said that charge was related to GE’s acquisition of Alstom, a French power and grid business that GE acquired just before the gas turbine market peaked.