Bad News Keeps Coming For GE

Investors who hoped that General Electric Company GE's woes ended with a $6.2-billion charge related to its insurance business were dealt another blow Wednesday. The company said in conjunction with its fourth quarter earnings report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is opening an investigation.

What You Need To Know

GE reported a top-and-bottom-line miss in its earnings report. The company said it earned 27 cents per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $31.4 billion. This compares to Wall Street analysts who modeled an EPS of 29 cents per share on revenue of $34 billion. Management also guided its full year fiscal 2018 EPS to be in a range of $1 to $1.07, a range within the consensus estimate of $1.

The SEC is investigating the $6.2-billion charge GE took. GE has been made aware of an investigation related to the process "leading to the insurance reserve increase and the fourth-quarter charge as well as GE's revenue recognition and controls for long-term service agreements," CNBC quoted the company's CFO Jamie Miller as saying on a conference call with investors.

Why It's Important

GE said it plans on "cooperating fully" with the investigation, which is in the "very early stages," the executive said. But the company may be prompted to restate its 2016 and 2017 financial results based on new accounting, and the results will be released "shortly."

What's Next?

GE may be taking an even closer look at major changes to its business structure, which could even result in the removal of the company's stock from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after being part of the index for more than one century, MarketWatch said.

Price Action

Shares of General Electric were trading lower by 1.45 percent at $16.80 Wednesday morning.

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