Monday, June 12, 2017

General Electric Changes a Dim Bulb (GE)

: 

Under Immelt, GE Was the Worst Performer in the Dow

 

General Electric shareholders endured a rough ride during Jeff Immelt‘s tenure atop the firm.

Shares of the massive company are down about 30% since he took the reins from legendary GE Chairman Jack Welch in 2001.

That’s by far the worst performance among the current companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Pfizer, down 11%, is the only other stock among those 30 companies that’s in the red in that span, and 21 of the remaining 28 have at least doubled over those 16 years.

As a whole, the Dow is up 121% from Sept. 7, 2001, Mr. Immelt’s first day on the job, to Friday’s close. The company announced early Monday that Mr. Immelt will step aside as chief executive on Aug. 1, to be succeeded by the head of the company’s health-care business, John Flannery. Mr. Immelt will relinquish his chairman’s title at the end of the year.

Longtime GE shareholders have also earned dividends over that span. The cumulative return including those payouts is about 17%, according to FactSet.

Mr. Immelt took over just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and GE shares were down more than 20% less than two weeks into his lengthy tenure. Mr. Immelt has been credited with steering the company through the difficult months that followed, and for the transformation of the firm in the years since.

Mr. Immelt also was at the helm through the financial crisis, and at one point amid the turmoil of that time, GE shares were down more than 80% from when he first stepped into the CEO role...MORE 
Some of our previous posts on Mr. Immelt:
January 2011
Compared to Volcker Immelt is a dwarf among pygmies.
[I think he is making a reference to Volcker's 6'7'' height while expressing disdain for Immelt and the President's other advisers. It can get confusing -ed]...
... I've commented over the years on the wealth-destruction that has occured on Immelt's watch:
*I loathe Jeff Immelt for what he has done to GE, formerly the crown jewel of American technology.
The S.O.B. was within days of having to bankrupt the company in September 2008 when no one would touch GE Credit commercial paper. And the rent-seeking corporatist....
See:
April, 2010
"Can General Electric Still Manage?" (GE)
April 2008
GE's Immelt reduced to whining after homicidal rant from Jack Welch (GE)
April 2008
Commentary on General Electric (GE)

May 2008
GE Stock Lower Than Sept. 10, 2001 Close; Immelt Buys Some (GE)
June 2009
GE: Government Enterprises
Sept. 2009
Pt. I:: GE and the Enron Playbook (ENE; GE)
Sept. 2009
Pt II, GE and the Enron Playbook: "GE, BP Join Industry Demands for Carbon Regulations"
Sept. 2009
Pt. III, GE and the Enron Playbook: "Wind-Turbine Makers Press for Green Mandates"
Oct 2009
Immelt’s Plans May Comfort Investors as Profit Falls (GE)
Oct. 2009
General Electric; Jeff Immelt: FAIL (GE)
Nov. 2009
General Electric Pursues Pot of Government Stimulus Gold (GE)
March 2010
General Electric has been an investor disaster under Jeff Immelt (GE)
I haven't owned GE since '99. I was fortunate to not own this stock for the last decade; as of the open on Friday the stock was down over 50% during Immelt's nine-year tenure. Friday's 3.22% up-move got the loss down to 48%.
In the late '90's a very wealthy and very smart investor said to me:
"GE's phony-baloney earnings smoothing is going to have to end, it's approaching the level of a joke, in addition to violating the '33 act"....
We have a lot of positive posts on GE, usually along the lines of:
Oct. '09: Can R&D Save General Electric?" (GE)
Possibly.
Combined with lobbying and firing Immelt....
So, we'll see what the next few weeks bring.
Meanwhile, the stock is up 3.85% on a generally down day, $29.01 last.

Ah hell, one more from 2011:

"GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, The Head Of Obama’s Jobs Council, Is Moving Jobs And Economic Infrastructure To China At A Blistering Pace"
This guy is sleazy and incompetent enough that he should run for office. We have a couple hundred posts on Immelt, links below....

If interested, here are the "search blog box" result pages. Good times.

Remember, a smart kid born on that Monday that Immelt took over, September 10 2001, could be on their way to college this fall.  
Sixteen years!

From Yahoo Finance:
And here is the bald and unhappy bottom line: During Immelt’s 16-year tenure, GE’s stock rose a paltry 11%, while the overall market (^GSPC) was up 114%. That is pretty damn devastating.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/w2vrKX1orfNCcdcWWImjgg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NzQ0O2g9NTMw/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/0727969c1857bf5b2cce6da7259dc4b2