GE Reminds Us It Still Makes Stuff
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. (
) --
General Electric
(GE) - Get Report
is hosting a bunch of analysts here this morning as part of its ongoing effort to remind investors and the public it is more than just financial hocus pocus.
I tuned in a bit late, so I can't tell who's speaking, (later one of his colleagues calls him Mark) but he sounds more like a science professor than an executive at one of the world's largest companies. He has an accent that is clearly Northeastern U.S. My guess would be Brooklyn. He's talking, in English, about lots of things GE makes, something about a "focused program on prostate and colorectal cancer. "
"These are big sweeping ideas, but it's not some fluffy talk that we have. They're real things to drive program activity," Mark says.
It's true. GE really does make stuff, and it is impressive how much energy they've been devoting to reminding us of that, with their television commercials showing mechanics and hospital technicians singing and throwing wrenches around and with Jeff Immelt going to Michigan a few weeks ago amid the ruins of the failed auto industry to announce the opening of a new research center.
But then again, GE has proudly touted its industrial business for as long as I can remember, even as its financial unit has grown and grown. I remember the commercials from my childhood. "From plastics to lighting to microwave ovens. GE, we bring good things to life!"
That was probably around the time GE was polluting the Hudson River. I'm sure someone has made this joke already, but one of the things they were bringing to life was fish with three eyes.
Hopefully that's now under control, since I went swimming in the Hudson a couple of weeks ago.
But I digress. GE spends so much time talking about how pro-environment they are, my guess is they've probably gotten a lot better in this regard.
Then, of course, there is the other GE, the one that doesn't make stuff. It makes stuff up, with highly complex accounting gimmicks. Floyd Norris of
The New York Times
has done some
trying to wade through the details surrounding a $50 million wrist slap GE got from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortunately for GE, Jed Rakoff, the judge who threw out a similar settlement between
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
and the SEC, didn't get a chance to approve the GE agreement.
All of this -- the GE that makes stuff and the one that makes stuff up -- has been known to the market for several months, so why has GE's stock suddenly started roaring ahead over the last few days?
It seems to have much more to do with macro issues about the economy and the overall stock market than it does the performance of the company itself. GE is so huge, it cannot stay in the doldrums for very long while the broader market is on fire.
--
Written by Dan Freed in New York
.
