NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) - Get Report , known for its light bulbs, jet engines and power-generating capabilities, will report third-quarter earnings before the opening bell Friday. Despite recent earnings and revenue struggles, GE is making moves to improve its outlook in the years ahead, making its stock very attractive at current levels.

For the quarter that ended September 30, the average analyst earnings-per-share estimate calls for 26 cents a share on revenue of $28.98 billion, compared to the year-ago quarter when GE earned 38 cents a share on revenue of $36.17 billion. For the full year, earnings are projected to fall 21% year over year to $1.30 a share, while revenue of $125.61 billion would mark a year-over-year decline of 15.5%.

GE shares -- up about 10% in 2015 and 15% in the past 12 months -- have outperformed both the Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DJI) (down 5% in 2015) and S&P 500 (SPX) index (down 3% in 2015) during both spans. But with the Fairfield, Conn.-based company becoming more focused on its industrial business -- particularly its power and aviation segments -- GE's future looks much brighter than its own light bulbs.

For instance, management has accelerated the pace of winding down various non-performing business like its GE Capital operation. Among recent deals, General Electric has sold off some $26 billion of real estate assets to both Wells Fargo (WFC) - Get Report and Blackstone Group LP (BX) - Get Report . As for its private-equity lending portfolio, General Electric in June received roughly $12 billion when it sold the portfolio to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

In these divestments -- aimed at generating some $100 billion in proceeds -- General Electric effectively removes one of the major bearish arguments that has impeded its growth, especially its GE Capital operation. At the same time, that the company plans to retain its financing arms for leasing aircrafts and energy projects, is a solid move. Those businesses are both profitable and growing.

GE wants non-industrial assets to account for about 10% of its earnings, suggesting it has more divestments and fat-cutting to make. GE will use the proceeds from these divestments to either fuel growth in its high-margin industrial operations or distribute some of that cash to shareholders. It can even buy back more stock to boost long-term earnings per share.

In either scenario, the company and its shareholders, who have waited patiently amid multiple restructuring initiatives, benefit. And the profit will come not just for the return GE will realize from its industrial investments, but also from the savings the company will enjoy from discontinuing various non-core legacy businesses.

And to say nothing about the various assets like global gas and steam turbine equipment GE now owns from French company Alstom (ALSMY) , which GE picked off last year for $17 billion. In short, while growth may have been hard to come by recently, future profits won't be, making GE stock -- which has a consensus buy rating -- worth the wait.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.