General Electric Co Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (GE)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Electric (NYSE:GE) has been reitereated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of B. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, expanding profit margins, attractive valuation levels, solid stock price performance and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• GE's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 2.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 1.8%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displaying stagnant earnings per share.
• GENERAL ELECTRIC CO reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GENERAL ELECTRIC CO increased its bottom line by earning $1.23 versus $1.14 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.55 versus $1.23).
• The gross profit margin for GENERAL ELECTRIC CO is rather high; currently it is at 53.80%. Regardless of GE's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, GE's net profit margin of 8.80% compares favorably to the industry average.
• After a year of stock price fluctuations, the net result is that GE's price has not changed very much. Although its weak earnings growth may have played a role in this flat result, don't lose sight of the fact that the performance of the overall market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, was essentially similar. Looking ahead, the stock's rise over the last year has already helped drive it to a level which is relatively expensive compared to the rest of its industry. We feel, however, that the other strengths this company displays justify these higher price levels.

General Electric Company operates as a technology and financial services company worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.7, equal to the average industrial industry P/E ratioand below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. General Electric has a market cap of $205.23 billion and is part of the industrial goods sector and industrial industry. Shares are up 1.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full General Electric Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

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