GE’s Big Worry Is a Virus, and That Counts as a Win
The company’s main problem is one everyone shares, rather than self-inflicted. That’s progress.
Signs of progress.
Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg
General Electric Co.’s biggest problem is now the coronavirus. And honestly, that’s a victory for a company that’s spent the better part of the last three years mired in idiosyncratic challenges largely of its own making.
GE hosted its outlook meeting on Wednesday and reiterated its expectation that its industrial businesses could generate as much as $4 billion in free cash flow this year, nearly double what they produced in 2019. That’s despite the fact that GE now expects coronavirus knock-on effects to shave as much as $500 million off of its first-quarter free cash flow. The brunt of the pain – as much as $300 million – is being felt the aerospace division as airlines around the world cancel flights and companies ban non-essential travel and cancel events.