GE Drops After Immelt Predicts Challenges to Hit 2018 Targets
- Earnings target would be high end of 2018 range, Immelt says
- Company faces obstacles in oil industry, equipment pricing
Jeffrey Immelt. Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg
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General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt, under pressure from activist investor Trian Fund Management to boost profit, is giving shareholders little reason for optimism.
The industrial giant will have to stretch to meet the goal of earning $2 a share next year amid challenging conditions in the oil industry and headwinds in equipment pricing, Immelt said Wednesday. Assuming there’s no improvement in the resource markets, a profit of that level “would be at the high end of the range,” he told analysts.