What’s Behind Recent General Electric Stock Price Action?
General Electric GE stock represents the shares of the General Electric Company. The General Electric Company is an American multinational with diversified interests in technology and financial services. As of 2018, the company operations spread across the aviation, renewable energy, finance, and lighting industries. General Electric products range from aircraft engines, domestic appliances, and medical imagining equipment.
GE Stock Price History
On November 12, 2019, the General Electric stock’s closing price is $ 11.42. Notable price levels of the GE stock are as indicated.
- The record high price was 60.00, the Stock closing price on August 28, 2000.
- GE’s last 12 months’ high price is 11.75, which is 2.9% above the current share price.
- GE’s last 12 months low price is 6.60, which is 41.7% below the current share price.
- The average gas price for the last 52 weeks is 9.36.
Rise and Fall of General Electric Company
General Electric is one of the 12 companies that composed the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It joined in 1986, and its membership lasted for 122 years. After world war 11, GE became a giant manufacturing company in the US. Its product range was everything from household appliances to military equipment. GE diversified into other industries, including plastics and computing. After Acquiring NBC television network in 1986, GE became a major player in the entertainment industry. The company reached its peak in August 2000, with a market capitalization of $594.
The years between 2001 and 2017, were harsh to General Electric. The company navigated September 11, 2001, terrorists attracts that threatened its airline business. In the same period, the company acquired several enterprises that did not perform as expected. The 2008 financial crises hit the company hard. It’s stock prices depreciated by 42 percent, forcing the company to rethink its operating strategy. GE had to sell some of its money-making ventures such as NBC Universal and GE Plastics to focus on its core functions of manufacturing.
The company slashed its dividend for the first time in 2009 and further in 2010. In June 2018, the GE stock got removed from Dow Jones Industrial Average. In November of the same year, GE share price fell to below $9, the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis.
General Electric Resurgence Attempts
In a bid to prevent total collapse, GE named its first outsider CEO in 127 years on October 1, 2018. The stock spiked to a high of $ 13.08 within days. The new CEO has moved fast to slash the company’s rising debts. He has sped up GE’s separation from oil and gas giant Baker Hughes. The CEO has reviewed dividends downwards as well as offloading the BioPharma business.
The new CEO holds high regard in Wall Street. Despite this, the GE stock has lost 24 percent in value since he took over. Analyst predicts the share would be trading at $4 if GE had a CEO with inferior ratings. The China-US trade wars are making the company situation more challenging. The aviation sector has been the best performing division of the company. With the grounding of the Max 737 due to safety concerns, GE cash flows will be lower by around $300 per quarter.
GE Future Price Outlook
The stock has lost 69 percent of value in the last three years. Few investors are buying the GE stock. The CEO expects the company’s industrial businesses to have cash outflows in 2019. Forecast for 2020 is positive cash flows and acceleration in 2021. Should the cash flow growth proceed beyond, 2021, then GE is a good value currently.
Conclusion
General Electric has had its glorious days. Analysts still believe that the company has better days ahead. The market has high confidence in the current CEO. Time will tell whether General Electric can turn its fortunes around. However, the majority of the analyst community still seems to be neutral on the stock.