General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares ticked up today on fourth-quarter results that were mixed compared the consensus forecast.
The Boston-based company posted profits of $2.6 billion, or 27¢ per share, on sales of $21.9 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020, more than tripling its bottom line despite a sales decline of -16.4%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 8¢, 1¢ behind Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $21.8 billion.
GE Healthcare brought in nearly $5 million in revenues, marking a -15% decline attributed largely to the sale of its biopharma arm to Danaher in the spring of 2020. The segment’s profits of $949 million were down -17% from $1.1 billion last year.
The company said in a news release that its revenues were up 6% organically thanks to growth in its life care solutions business with the delivery of Carescape R860 ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as imaging and ultrasound volumes.
“As 2020 progressed, we significantly improved GE’s profitability and cash performance despite a still-difficult macro environment,” GE chairman & CEO H. Lawrence Culp said in the release. “The fourth quarter marked a strong free cash flow finish to a challenging year, reflecting the results of better operations as well as strong and improving orders in power and renewable energy. Over the past year our team proved resilient, and momentum is growing across our businesses.
“We are in leading positions to capture opportunities in the energy transition, precision health, and the future of flight. As we continue our transformation, we remain focused on strengthening GE and delivering value for the long term.”
GE said it expects to log adjusted EPS of between 15¢ and 25¢ in 2021 and anticipates revenues to grow organically in the low-single-digit range.
GE shares were up 3.6% at $11.39 per share in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was down 0.4%.