Earnings: General Electric stock gains 7% on topline beat

General Electric (GE) shares gained over 7% during premarket trading on Thursday after the embattled manufacturing giant reported fourth-quarter revenue of $33.3 billion, up 5% year-over-year and higher than analysts’ projection of $32.01 billion.

The top line was lifted by strong performance in the Aviation and Renewable energy segments, which grew 21% and 28% respectively. The Power unit, meanwhile, continued its lackluster performance hurt by industry-wide weakness, and fell another 25% in Q4.

Fourth-quarter earnings of 17 cents per share missed analysts’ projection of 22 cents per share.

GE stock had plunged 46% in the past 12 months as the company struggled to focus on core industrial operations by jettisoning other businesses, irrespective of their profit-making abilities.

The company said that it has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to settle the allegations against its account practices through a $1.5 billion penalty.

CEO Larry Culp said, “Our strategy is clear: de-leverage our balance sheet and strengthen our businesses, starting with Power. To do this, we are improving execution, customer focus, and how we set priorities across GE. I’m confident in our team, technology, and the global reach of GE’s brand and relationships.”

Adjusted GE Industrial Free Cash Flows for the full year, meanwhile, fell 19% to $4.5 billion. Culp has been accelerating his predecessor John Flannery’s strategy of selling unwanted assets and using the proceeds to reduce its $115 billion debt burden.

In the last reported quarter, General Electric had missed analysts’ expectations and had slashed its dividend for the second time in a year’s time.

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