General Electric (NYSE: GE) saw its stock price make moderate gains on Monday after a bearish critic of GE upgraded his rating of the company after noting better than expected performance.
JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) analyst Stephen Tusa, a longtime bearish critic of GE, changed his standing on the company after the company beat expectations, noting that GE's free cash flow beat his expectations. Tusa upgraded the company's rating from underweight to neutral and hiked up his price target to $8 from $5.
News of Tusa's revision was enough to cause GE's stock to rally, sending the price to the $10 range from $6 during trading on Monday. GE stock closed at $11 on Monday but slumped back down into the $10 during trading on Tuesday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) had dropped 775 points on dour news that the Federal Reserve had dropped the interest rate due to coronavirus related economic blowback; GE's drop may be a consequence of the overall slump members of the Dow faced and is likely not reflective of the company's performance.
Tusa's revision comes at an interesting time in GE's 128-year history; the industry giant has suffered considerable setbacks over the last few years, which were likely the catalyst for Tusa's initial bearish views on the company. Tusa caught Wall Street's attention when, in 2016, he cut GE's rating down to sell, which was notable because it had predated the slew of issues that would later come to light and wreak havoc on GE's performance. Shortly after that, GE began a downward spiral that resulted in a crushing loss of over $200 billion in market value due largely to poor cash flows and shrinking earnings.
GE CEO Larry Culp would take control of the company in 2018 and begin a broad effort to stabilize the conglomerate, selling off assets and trying to streamline the company to improve cash flow. Based on Tusa's revision and the overall more optimistic attitude Wall Street seems to be taking towards GE, it would seem that Culp's efforts have been successful for the most part. GE is set to hold an event on Wednesday for investors and analysts, where it will lay out its outlook for 2020. The event will likely provide more insight into the full extent of Culp's success in reversing GE's fortunes.