General Electric: Buying Time for Financial Unit

That is why Heymann thinks the intended audience for Tuesdays call is, above all, regulators in Washington. Presenting the strongest picture it can of its financial unit may buy GE some time.

"This isn't any more about a decision: it's about when it's implemented," Heymann says.

On the other hand, Sanford Bernstein analyst Steven Winoker is not convinced GE will be forced to separate the two units.

"The Treasury suggestions are just that, so far, with new regulatory rules probably several iterations away from a final version," Winoker wrote in a recent report. He also notes that even if it is forced to separate the units, GE would have five years in which to do so -- a point GE emphasized in its latest earnings report.

--Reported by Dan Freed in New York.