(New York) Buoyed by activity in aeronautics in the second quarter, the American conglomerate General Electric (GE) published quarterly results that beat expectations on Tuesday, leading it to revise its outlook for 2023 upwards.
The global power management and industrial automation giant’s revenue rose 18% to $16.7 billion from April to June. This is significantly more than expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Net profit was $1.4 billion, a 40% jump from the second quarter of 2022. On a per share basis and excluding exceptional items, investors’ preferred measure, profit was $0.68, again above market expectations.
Expanding electrification and energy efficiency markets have driven GE’s growth in recent years, with records set in 2022 for both sales (34 billion euros) and profits (3.5 billion).
Regarding the second quarter of 2023, GE explains that it benefited in particular from the strong demand for its aeronautical services, in a context of post-pandemic air traffic recovery. Revenues from this branch – for which it also manufactures aircraft engines – thus climbed 28% over one year, to 7.86 billion dollars, supported by both commercial aviation and defense, which doubled its orders over this period.
The renewable energy division – GE notably manufactures onshore and offshore wind turbines as well as solar installations – is on a similar trajectory, with orders described as “record”. It saw its turnover increase by 24%, to 3.85 billion dollars. Conversely, the division dedicated to traditional energies remained almost stable (-1%), at 4.15 billion dollars.
These results do not include the activities of the division devoted to medical technologies, listed on the stock market in early January. GE kept about 20% of the shares of this new entity, called GE Healthcare. The group also still plans to separate its energy and aerospace activities in early 2024.
On the heels of the release, GE raised its guidance for 2023 and now expects adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.1 and $2.3, up from $1.70 and $2 previously.
The group’s stock jumped 4.4% in pre-opening Wall Street electronic trading.