General Electric Co yesterday reported an 8% drop in fourth-quarter earnings in its industrial businesses, hurt by weakness in divisions catering to the oil and gas sector. 
Excluding special items, GE’s earnings of 52¢ a share beat the analysts’ average estimate of 49¢, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 
GE maintained its 2016 adjusted industrial profit outlook of $1.45 to $1.55 a share. 
The decline in industrial earnings during the quarter showed the impact of falling energy prices on GE’s large oil and gas business. Operating profit there fell to $5.52bn from $5.99bn a year earlier. 
But revenue increases of 5% in aviation and 20% in energy management partly offset the 16% drop for oil and gas. 
“We think the orders volumes and pricing are encouraging,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note. 
GE’s total net income jumped 22% to $6.28bn, or 64¢ per share, from $5.15bn, or 51¢ per share. 
It included a host of one-time items, including closing the purchase of Alstom’s power business, separating GE’s renewable energy business from the power segment, a break-up fee for the failed sale of its appliance business to Electrolux and other restructuring costs. 
Revenue rose 1.4% to $33.89bn, below the $35.7bn analysts had expected.