General Electric
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GE China Deals to Bring in $4 Billion
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Hot Stocks: General Electric is Being Powered by China Growth, but Held Back by its Financial Arm
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has more than a century of history behind it and it's seen worse times than we're going through right now. It's a global juggernaut, and its foothold in emerging markets - particularly China - makes the company worth looking at.
But at the end of the day, its financial unit is holding GE back, and that isn't likely to change any time soon.
Let me explain.
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ABB Ltd. Buys Smart Grid Software Maker to Jump Ahead in Energy Management Industry
Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd. (NYSE ADR: ABB) today (Wednesday) announced it will buy software maker Ventyx for over $1 billion to strengthen its position among energy management competitors by offering smart grid electricity distribution.
ABB will integrate Ventyx into its power-systems division, allowing it to provide modern smart grid software to grid operators who want to run a more efficient distribution system. The deal represents electrical engineering companies' need to prepare energy management networks to handle an increasing supply of renewable sources, like wind and solar.
"The big advantage for energy companies, utilities and industrial customers is that they will now have a single supplier of enterprise-wide information technology platforms and power automation systems," said ABB Chief Executive Officer Joe Hogan. "The advantage for our shareholders is a cash-generating acquisition in an exciting growth market, with a strong management team, a highly complementary offering and geographic scope, and an attractive return on capital employed."
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China, Europe Lapping the United States in the Clean Energy Race
If the United States doesn't take drastic measures to engineer new clean energy policies and investment initiatives, it will continue to take a back seat to China and Europe, which are driving the clean energy market toward a profitable future.
Both clean energy companies and a skilled workforce are heading overseas, where government policies are creating a more welcoming and promising market for clean energy products.
Take Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar, Inc (Nasdaq: ESLR). In 2008, it used $58 million in government aid to open a new Massachusetts factory to build silicon wafers and cells and assemble solar panels. But in November 2009, it announced the assembly of solar panels would be moved to Wuhan, China, where solar panel manufacturing will cost far less than in the United States.
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Bulls Overcome Market Tug of War to Send Stocks off to Strong March Start
Stocks rose briskly last week, resulting in a big week for the major market indexes. Weekly and monthly index charts improved, and such major U.S. stocks asThe Boeing Co.(NYSE: BA),Hewlett PackardCo. (NYSE: HPQ),American ExpressCo. (NYSE: AXP),Google Inc.(NASDAQ: GOOG),AppleInc. (AAPL), Goldman SachsGroup Inc. (NYSE: GS) and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) emerged from flat-lining or faltering price patterns on decent, if not outstanding, volume.
Just two weeks ago, every one of the afore-mentioned stocks looked terrible, exhibiting intense apathy amid slow, grinding declines. Then the skies parted, and suddenly the sun is shining on these shares once again.
That's why U.S. stocks are off to a strong March start - already up 4.1% from the end of February. And don't forget, a year ago at about this time (March 9, 2009), the market reached its nadir: The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexis up 69.98% since that time.
Here's why the shift seems so abrupt. The markets are now in a tug of war between two forces:
- On the plus side are good fourth-quarter earnings reports related to an improving economy.
- On the negative side - as a friend at a major macro hedge fund described it last week - are "frigid winds blowing across the credit icebergs."
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Obama's Budget Adds $1 Trillion in Taxes, Balloons Federal Deficit
President Barack Obama yesterday (Monday) unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget proposal that includes big tax increases on individuals and businesses, and expands the federal deficit by more than $5.5 trillion by the end of the decade, including a record $1.6 trillion next year.
The budget blueprint for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 reflects the administration's struggle to find a balance between containing the spiraling federal deficit with the need to boost the economy and create jobs - both of which figure to be political bombshells in the upcoming 2010 elections.
"We're trying to accomplish a soft landing in terms of our fiscal trajectory," Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said at a press briefing.
But the budget is certain to add fuel to the debate over the size and scope of government. As expected, Republicans railed against the administration's big spending programs and tax increases. -
Investment News Briefs
With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world.
House Rethinks Glass-Steagall; Boeing's Dreamliner Finally Lifts Off; Manufacturing, Wholesale Prices Both Rise; Best Buy Beats Street; GE Sees Flat Revenue; Wells Fargo to Pay Back TARP
- The Glass-Steagall Act, which barred banks that took deposits from underwriting securities, is under consideration for reinstatement by the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD. A renewal of the 1933 law “is certainly under discussion” by House members, Hoyer told Bloomberg News in Washington. The Glass-Steagall law was repealed in 1999 to help pave the way for the formation of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) with the $46 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. Enactment of the law has generated debate about whether it helped spawn reckless lending practices and financial speculation that led to the meltdown of credit markets last year and the $700 billion U.S. bailout of troubled banks, including Citigroup. “As someone who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, maybe that was a mistake,” Hoyer said.
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Investment News Briefs
AOL Goes It Alone; Citi to Pay Back TARP Funds; Jim Rogers: Audit, Then Abolish The Fed; Goldman Sachs Adopts "Say on Pay" Policy; GE Gets Contract for World's Largest Wind Farm; Weekly Jobless Claims Rise, Trade Gap Narrows; Gold Bounces Back; U.S. Households' Net Worth Gains in Q3
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With NBC Deal Done, Comcast Becomes the New Cable Juggernaut
Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) will acquire a 51% stake in General Electric Co.’s (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal Inc. for $13.75 billion in cash and assets, giving the cable giant lucrative cable channels including SyFy, Bravo and the USA Network, as well as Universal Pictures and its related theme parks in California, Florida and Japan.
But for GE, the deal is a precursor to and eventual exit from the media business.
"This isn’t just one of the biggest media deals, this is arguably one of the biggest M&A deals in years," Wunderlich Securities Inc. analyst Matthew Harrigan, who recommends buying Comcast shares, told Bloomberg News. -
GE Sets Up Comcast Venture With Buy of Vivendi's NBC Universal Stake
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) cleared the way for Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) to take control of its NBC Universal unit yesterday (Tuesday) when it reached agreement with Vivendi SA to buy the French company's 20% stake for $5.8 billion.
GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt and Vivendi Chief Jean-Bernard Levy agreed on a price after they met in France last week, according to multiple sources cited by Reuters and Bloomberg News.
