Fairfield conglomerate General Electric Co. said Friday its fourth-quarter net income increased 52 percent as the company made more money on both the industrial and lending sides of its business, The Associated Press reports.
The lending arm, GE Capital, suffered huge writedowns on risky loans during the financial crisis, so GE has been focusing on its industrial businesses. Industrial sales rose during the fourth quarter and orders for equipment, an indication of future business, were up 20 percent.
The improvement led CEO Jeff Immelt to say that “GE exits 2010 with significant momentum.” The company is also benefitting from the Obama administration’s recent diplomatic and trade efforts with India and China.
GE, which makes products from dishwashers to wind turbines and finances large projects around the globe, said net income rose to $4.46 billion, or 42 cents per share, in the final three months of the year from $2.94 billion, or 28 cents per share, a year ago.
Earnings from continuing operations were 36 cents a share. That tops analysts’ expectations for earnings of 32 cents, according to FactSet. GE said revenue grew year-over-year for the first time in nine quarters, increasing 1 percent to $41.4 billion. Wall Street expected revenue of $40.3 billion.
Overall orders grew 12 percent from a year ago. Besides the increase in equipment orders, services business orders rose 5 percent. Immelt noted that orders grew 4 percent at GE’s energy infrastructure business, which accounted for a quarter of GE’s operating revenue and more than a third of GE’s operating profit in 2010.
GE’s total backlog stood at a record $175 billion on Dec. 31.
