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GE exceeds 1Q targets
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April 13, 2000: 9:22 a.m. ET
Conglomerate's profit rises 20%, beating upwardly revised estimates
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - General Electric Co. posted a 20 percent increase in first-quarter profit Thursday, crediting its gains to strong performance of its products in "unusually robust global markets."
The results slightly exceeded Wall Street's forecasts. Shares of GE, a component of the Dow industrial average and the world's largest company in terms of market capitalization, slipped 2-3/8 to 154-3/8 at the opening of trading as Dow stocks lost ground. GE shares are trading near 52-week highs of 164-7/8.
 The Fairfield, Conn.-based conglomerate, which manufactures jet engines, light bulbs and medical equipment as well as owning the NBC television network and GE Capital Services, earned $2.59 billion, or 78 cents per diluted share, up from $2.16 billion, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had forecast the company to earn 77 cents per share in the period, up from an earlier estimate of 75 cents after the company said last month that its international business was booming.
"GE's businesses turned in a terrific first quarter," GE chairman Jack Welch said. "Our products and services are being well received in unusually robust global markets."
Revenue for the period rose 24 percent to $30 billion.
Revenue at GE Capital Services, which accounts for about half of the company's revenue, jumped 27 percent to $15.7 billion, adding $20 billion in assets and 1.6 million policyholders during the period through acquisitions and alliances in Asia. Net earnings for the unit increased 17 percent to $1.2 billion.
(Click here for more earnings news.) 
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General Electric Co.
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