GE is not a ‘blue chip’ in terms of being part of the Dow 30. However, it is one of the companies that make up the S&P 500.
I won’t comment too much on the report, other than a remark about the mashup logo that was created, making the swirly GE logo look like the lopsided Enron logo. That makes the report look quite sensationalistic, and the image is on near every page.
But as a kid that grew up with GE (my dad worked there for decades, retired with the gold watch and everything), it’s been sad to watch this stalwart institution on its long, downward death slide. My take (FWIW) is that the company started to get too much into the financials, hiring too many too-smart MBAs, and losing their focus, slowly, too slow for people to actually notice. But the market sure has noticed over the past years. Is it too late to save? It just might be too late, I’m afraid, especially now that they are well along selling their assets (plastics to the Saudis?).
My mom still has a small handful of GE stock, and it’s been hard for me to tell her how it’s way, way down and will probably never recover. For her loyalty holding them all these years, she now also has a drop of WABTEC (Westinghouse Air Brakes? Really?) stock. It has a D rating, last I checked.
This whole GE thing really sucks. My dad’s spinning in his grave. Stupid managers, he’d say.
