LARRY CULP

Inflation, lingering supply chain disruptions and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are intensifying uncertainty.

Long a symbol of American ingenuity, GE will split into three businesses focused on energy, aviation and health care.

"I think on balance, that's what gives us the optimism and the confidence about our aviation business," General Electric CEO Larry Culp told CNBC on Tuesday.

Paycom Software’s Chad Richison and Advanced Micro Devices’ Lisa Su are among the top paid CEOs in the S&P 500 index.

Bill Baruch of Blue Line Capital sees even more upside ahead for GE. He breaks down the charts.

On Wednesday, the Boston-based conglomerate announced the sale of GE Capital Aviation Services, or Gecas, the largest remaining asset of the company's once-colossal finance arm, GE Capital, to AerCap. Once the deal closes in nine to 12 months, GE plans to shift GE Capital's remaining debt and assets onto the company's industrial balance sheet. But on Monday, bullish analysts from UBS, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America came to the company's defense, extolling the merits of the Gecas deal and GE's cash position. He said the Gecas deal moves GE closer to realizing its potential as the "ultimate self-help, vaccine-leveraged story in Industrials." But Ritchie said it's not fair to compare the expected 2021 industrial balance sheet that includes GE Capital to the prior year.

AerCap Holdings rocked the aviation world last week with a $30 billion deal for General Electric's aircraft leasing arm, General Electric Commercial Aviation Services, or Gecas. For GE, it marks CEO Larry Culp's latest move to slim down the conglomerate, raise cash and pay down debt. AerCap's 47-year-old CEO Aengus Kelly, who has more than two decades of experience in the leasing business, is no stranger to deal-making. He told investors after the agreement was announced that the GE deal was the fourth aircraft leasing business AerCap agreed to buy at a discount to book value. If I told you I had a brand-new fleet that's 2 years old but it was all 777s and 330s that's not a good thing.

GE stock was down more than 8% in midday trading Thursday after tumbling about 5% on Wednesday. The Boston-based conglomerate on Wednesday announced the deal to sell GE Capital Aviation Services, or Gecas, the largest remaining asset of the company's once-colossal finance arm GE Capital, to AerCap. GE said it will take a 46% stake in the combined company and the deal will generate about $24 billion in cash. Once the deal closes in nine to 12 months, GE plans to shift GE Capital's remaining debt and assets onto the company's industrial balance sheet. Even as GE stock falls, AerCap investors appear to like the deal.

The industrial conglomerate announced Wednesday it would merge its aircraft leasing unit with Irish company AerCap in a deal worth $30 billion, the latest move to streamline the company and unload debt from its balance sheet. In an interview with CNBC, CEO Larry Culp said: "GE shareholders should be delighted with this transaction. They've had four tasks: they're shedding assets, they're paying down debt, they're focusing on their core businesses and they're getting their underfunded pension fund healthy. I think as GE gets smaller and smaller, the market is going to like it more and more," Binger told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday. Even though it looks cheap, among a variety of metrics, I think investors need to steer clear," Tatro said.

GE Capital Aviation Services, or Gecas, is the largest asset of the company's finance arm, GE Capital, which nearly sunk the company during the financial crisis when it took on huge losses. The company has been whittling down Capital since then and Culp has sought to accelerate GE's exit from finance. With the sale of Gecas, the company said it will fold GE Capital into the corporate parent instead of reporting it as a standalone captive business. "This really marks the transformation into a more focused, simpler and stronger GE," Culp said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber. "A smaller GE Capital would simplify GE's story," he added.

The deal would give GE a 46% stake in the combined company and generate about $24 billion in cash. GE Capital Aviation Services, or Gecas, is a part of GE Capital, which has been whittled down since the financial crisis. GE said it would reduce its debt by about $30 billion after the transaction closes using proceeds from the deal and existing cash. Aircraft leasing companies hold about half of the more than 22,000 single- and twin-aisle commercial jetliners, according to consulting firm Ascend by Cirium. The Gecas unit last year swung to a $786 million loss from a $1.03 billion profit a year earlier, according to GE's annual report.

Morgan Stanley is now the biggest General Electric bull on Wall Street after analyst Josh Pokrzywinski raised his target on the stock to $17 on Thursday, up from his prior forecast of $13. That unit has dragged down the Boston-based conglomerate during the pandemic as global travel came to a standstill, hammering demand for GE-manufactured jet engines. Rising demand for repairsNotably, GE Aviation makes the bulk of its profit from repairing, not selling, its engines through long-term maintenance contracts. The analyst predicted that demand for GE repairs to jet engines could return to 2019 levels in 2023. Culp and other GE executives are scheduled to update investors on the company's 2021 outlook next week.

Jeff Immelt told CNBC on Monday the perception of his time as CEO of General Electric has been unfair and incomplete. And I think it's hurt a lot of people," Immelt said, while explaining why he wrote a book about his tenure leading the industrial giant. Immelt navigated GE through the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. Immelt came under fire by critics for what they called poor leadership decisions as CEO that left GE cash-strapped. On his way out the door in 2017 at GE, Immelt found himself defending the company's practice of having an empty business jet follow his corporate plane on several trips around the world.

General Electric — Shares rose nearly 4% after General Electric's industrial free cash flow came in better than expected for the fourth quarter. The company reported $4.37 billion for the metric after CEO Larry Culp had previously projected at least $2.5 billion. American Express — The payments stock slipped 2.3% after the company reported its fourth quarter results. American Express reported $1.76 in earnings per share, above the $1.31 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. Wall Street expected earnings of $2.90 per share on revenue of $2.11 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Shares of General Electric jumped by more than 8% in premarket trading Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected industrial free cash flow for the fourth quarter and a rosy outlook for this year. The strong quarter pushed the company's industrial free cash flow into positive territory for the year. GE also projected it would generate between $2.5 billion and $4.5 billion in industrial free cash flow for 2021. On an unadjusted basis, the company reported diluted net earnings per share of 27 cents. And some investors are bullish on the company's turnaround under Culp, especially as he forecasts positive cash flow for 2021.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined General Electric $200 million to settle charges for misleading investors regarding its power and insurance businesses. The SEC said it found that GE misled investors in 2016 and 2017 about the source of profit in its GE Power business, one of the company's core operations. The company also failed to fully inform investors about risks associated with GE Capital, its financial services arm, between 2015 and 2017, the SEC said. The company settled the charges and agreed to pay the civil fine without admitting or denying the findings, the SEC said. The company also agreed to report to the SEC for one year on its accounting and disclosure policies and controls.

General Electric narrowed its losses in its third quarter as it trimmed expenses and managed to post an adjusted profit that surprised Wall Street. GE lost $1.19 billion, or 14 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. Earnings, adjusted for one-time costs and asset impairment costs, were 6 cents per share. For the year to date, it has reduced debt by $11.7 billion, including $8.1 billion in GE Industrial debt and $3.6 billion in GE Capital debt. Quarterly revenue declined to $19.42 billion from $23.36 billion, but still topped the $19.15 billion that analysts predicted.

Apple (AAPL) – Apple will extend some free one-year trial subscriptions to its Apple TV+ service through February. It had issued those free trials with the purchase of Apple products when it launched the service a year ago. Walt Disney (DIS) – Disney will release the Pixar movie "Soul" directly to its Disney+ TV service on Christmas Day, deciding to forego both movie theaters and the previously planned November 20th release date. General Electric (GE) – Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of GE with a "buy" rating and a 12-month price target of $10 per share. HCA Healthcare (HCA) – HCA will return about $6 billion in government aid it had received as part of coronavirus relief funding.

The company's power and renewable energy businesses also saw revenues decline in the quarter. GE also suffered a $1 billion blow to its cash flow during the quarter. General Electric on Wednesday reported a steep decline in first-quarter revenue as the industrial giant took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic. GE's earnings release also indicated the industrial giant expects this quarter to be worse than the first. "The second quarter will be the first full quarter with pressure from COVID-19, and GE expects that its financial results will decline sequentially," GE said.

"We didn't take a view with respect to the rest of the year," CEO Larry Culp told CNBC earlier Wednesday. One technical analyst says the stock charts have a positive lean, despite the fresh headwinds. He points out that the 200-day moving average, which tracks the longer-term trend, had a negative slope in 2017 and 2018. "To me that's an indication of a positive trend change, and we're going to use that 200-day as our stop," O'Hara said. "We believe with these tailwinds provided by this positive trend change, we could see $12.50 for GE here."

General Electric Chairman and CEO Larry Culp told CNBC on Monday that the legacy of Jack Welch remains present at the company. "As we look around the company today, his memory and his influence certainly loom very large for us," Culp said on "Squawk on the Street." GE was removed from the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average in June 2018, a few months before Culp took over. Despite no overlap in their tenures at GE, Culp said the two had crossed paths. Welch also had a direct question for Culp, shortly after Culp took the reins at the embattled industrial giant.

General Electric delivered fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday that topped analyst expectations and gave a better-than-anticipated cash-flow forecast that signaled the troubled conglomerate could be turning around. Shares of GE rose as much as 10% in trading from its previous close of $11.73. Here's what GE reported versus what Wall Street expected:EPS: 21 cents vs. 18 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Refnitiv. Revenue: $26.24 billion vs. $25.57 billion expected by the Refnitiv survey. JPMorgan analyst Stephen Tusa, widely considered the top industrials analyst, stuck by his firm's underweight rating after GE's results.

CNBC's Jim Cramer broke down why investors must take a chance on a stock when the chief executive of the underlying company is being transparent. The "Mad Money" host sat down with the heads of Penn National Gaming and Barstool Sports to discuss the two companies' bet on sports gambling. "It's easy to assume everyone in this business is totally cynical, but taking that approach kept you out of some monster gains in and in ," the "Mad Money" host said. Penn National bets on BarstoolFrom left: David Portnoy, Erika Nardini of Barstool Sports and Jay Snowden, Penn National Gaming on CNBC's Mad Money, January 29, 2020. The deal "is so big, I'm trying to get to, like, buy [a] sports team-type mogul," he said in an interview with Cramer, appearing alongside Barstool CEO Erika Nardini and Penn National CEO Jay Snowden on "Mad Money."

General Electric shares have raced nearly 30% higher during the past three months, topping the XLI industrials ETF over that stretch, as its turnaround efforts take root. "GE is the ultimate show-me story, and we're beyond hope. Petrides says a pickup in the global economy could help bolster GE's bull case. So, the U.S. consumer has been holding the global economy up, and there's hope because the 'phase one' deal with China was struck. That's going to help the industrial economy out, we need to see that play out in the numbers," Petrides added.

Billionaire businessman Ken Langone told CNBC that he used Tuesday's stock market drop as a buying opportunity. "Where else can you go to get some kind of a decent rate of return, than equities," Langone said. Langone said Parker-Hannifin is "extremely well run," and the company has raised its dividend every year for 63 years. After spending time with Culp, Langone said he was persuaded to buy back in. Boston-based GE, at one time America's most valuable company, now has a stock market value below $100 billion.

1892: The General Electric Company is formed by the merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company. NEW YORK - General Electric fought back Thursday night after the company was accused of fraud and its stock experienced its worst one-day percentage drop since April 2008. Culp's ownership of GE stock nearly doubled this week after an earlier purchase Tuesday. Markopolos said in a report released Thursday that GE was hiding nearly $40 billion of losses in its insurance business. He said this is the largest case of accounting fraud he and his team have investigated.

General Electric CEO Larry Culp bought nearly $2 million worth of the company's stock after Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos called the company "a bigger fraud than Enron." A Thursday evening filing with the SEC revealed that Culp bought 252,200 shares for about $7.93 each. Culp, who took over the struggling industrial conglomerate last year, has roughly doubled his holding of GE shares this week, according to the filing. In a 175-page report, Markopolos targeted the company, accusing it of issuing fraudulent financial statements to hide the extent of its accounting problems. Following those allegations, GE shares plunged 11% during the normal session to $8.01 per share, their biggest drop since April 2008.

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:Advance Auto Parts The autoparts retailer reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2 per share, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 a share. JD.com The China-based internet company reported a nearly 23% rise in quarterly revenue, more than expected, on growth in sales for its e-commerce business. Brinker International The parent of Chili's and other restaurant chains beat estimates by 2 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.36 per share. Elanco Animal Health Elanco reported adjusted quarterly profit of 28 cents per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Tencent Music Tencent Music earned an adjusted 67 cents per share for its latest quarter, beating consensus estimates by 6 cents a share.