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General Electric Co.'s second-quarter profit was sliced nearly in half, the company said Friday, as the recession drove down earnings at its finance unit and smothered demand for its wide-ranging industrial goods.
Although earnings beat Wall Street forecasts by a penny, GE's revenue fell $3 billion short of expectations, helping push down shares 6 percent. Quarterly sales fell across its divisions, from health care to broadcasting, suggesting that the recession is still sapping demand for goods and services.
That appeared to be troubling news for the nation's economic health because GE's businesses touch nearly all facets of the economy and investors were hoping sales would show flashes of strength.
The company is also retreating from a more optimistic outlook for its industrial businesses that make everything from microwaves to wind turbines. It's now saying those divisions could break even rather than show a profit this year.
GE's second-quarter net income totaled $2.6 billion, or 24 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends. That fell 49 percent from $5.1 billion, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 17 percent, to $39.1 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected GE to earn 23 cents per share on revenue of $42.16 billion.
The first half of 2009 has been a difficult one for GE, one of the world's largest companies. It cut its dividend sharply to preserve cash, lost its vaunted Triple-A
