GE’s Cash Surprise Is Better Than Bonfires Past
But “surprise” is still the key word in its earnings. You just don't see such dramatic swings at other manufacturers.
GE continues to make progress on its turnaround and CEO Larry Culp is one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Only GE can deliver billions of dollars worth of cash-flow surprises.
The highlight in General Electric Co.’s results released Tuesday was that the company generated $4.4 billion in free cash flow from its industrial businesses in the fourth quarter. That’s about $500 million more than the year-earlier period despite the effects of the pandemic on its crown-jewel aviation unit. It’s also almost double the company’s forecast for at least $2.5 billion in free cash flow for the final three months of 2020. We’ve come quite a long way from CEO Larry Culp’s reluctance in July to commit to a positive number of any size for the second half of the year.