NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - General Electric Co. posted its third straight quarter of lower earnings Friday as the conglomerate met Wall Street expectations for the period, though it said it now sees full-year income at the lower end of its earlier guidance range.
The company, whose businesses include light bulbs, power systems, jet engines and television networks, earned $3.8 billion, or 38 cents a share, in the second quarter. That was down from $4.4 billion, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier but in line with forecasts of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call.
The company's presentation for analysts Friday morning said it now expects to earn between $1.55 and $1.61 a share for the full-year, which is on the lower end of its earlier guidance of $1.55-to-$1.70.
First Call's consensus forecast is for full-year earnings of $1.60 a share, up from $1.51 in 2002, with estimates ranging from $1.55 to $1.66. It said it expects third-quarter EPS of 39-to-42 cents, compared with 41 cents a year earlier and First Call's forecast of 42 cents. GE now expects fourth-quarter EPS between 46 and 49 cents, up from 31 cents a year earlier. First Call's forecast is 48 cents.
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 CNNfn's Allan Chernoff takes a closer look at GE's performance and the company's forecast.
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"The year is turning out as planned," CEO Jeff Immelt said in the earnings statement. "As expected, the ramp-down of our turbine shipments in the first half created earnings pressure. However, we are executing with broad-based strength to generate significant growth in the second half. We see nine of 13 businesses growing in double digits and more favorable comparisons in power systems and insurance."
Immelt told investors that problems with GE's plastics business, particularly higher-than-expected raw material costs, was a major factor in putting guidance near the lower end of its earlier range. He said he's generally pleased with how the company is performing and considers the outlook for the second half a good one.
"We'll have solid performance in a slow growth environment," he said. "We're still within that range. We think it's solid performance in this environment."
Immelt added that the company estimates that second-quarter earnings per share might have been reduced by about 2 cents a share, which comes to $200 million, by the impact of the war in Iraq as well as the spread of the SARS virus.
The company's 10-year streak of improved quarterly earnings ended in the fourth quarter of last year as it struggled with reduced demand for jet engines and power systems, along with increased costs in its plastics business. Those three units continued to post lower profits.
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The power systems unit was actually the company's largest profit producer, earning $1.0 billion, but that was down 46 percent from a year earlier. Plastics earnings plunged 71 percent to $80 million from $275 million a year earlier. Jet engines earnings nearly leveled out, down only 1 percent to $560 million. GE's transportation systems and equipment management divisions also posted lower profits.
But the other units all showed improved results. Commercial finance was the second-largest income producer, with earnings up 10 percent to $805 million. GE's television networks, led by a ratings win and an improved advertising environment at NBC, posted a 26 percent gain in profit to $688 million. Part of the improvement in earnings at NBC came from no longer having losses attributed to its contract to broadcast National Basketball Association games, although that also lowered revenue for the network.
Revenue in the quarter was essentially flat at $33.4 billion, a bit weaker than the First Call forecast of $33.6 billion.
Shares of GE (GE: up $0.33 to $28.52, Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, were higher in early trading Friday.
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