Monday, July 23, 2012

General Electric Approaching Psychologically Important $20.16 Level (GE)

Just funnin' ya, the psychologically important level is $21.01.
Seriously.
One of the things we look for is relative strength on down days. In this case GE is up 9/10% vs. a 1% decline on the DJIA of which it is a component.
The point that interests us is the 52 week high at $21.00.
As I've mentioned, in the late '90's a very wealthy and very smart investor said to me:
"GE's phoney-baloney earnings smoothing is going to have to end, it's approaching the level of a joke, in addition to violating the '33 act".
I sold that week,managed to avoid the entire Jeff Immelt tenure.
Now I might be interested. If the stock can clear this year's high the next spot it stopped was the April 2011 high of $21.65.

Warren Buffet has a higher target, $22.25.
That's the exercise price on Berkshire's warrant to purchase 134.8 million common shares.
The warrant expires in October 2013.

This little excursion into transnational mega-cap land was prompted by Morgan Stanley's estimate revision following Friday's earnings.
From Dividend.com:
Multinational conglomerate General Electric Company on Monday caught some tepid commentary from analysts at Morgan Stanley.

The firm lowered its earnings estimates for GE through 2014, citing a flattening backlog of orders in its industrial segment. Morgan Stanley maintained its “Equal-weight” rating and $22 price target, which suggests an 11% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $19.87....
GE shares fell 31 cents, or -1.6%, in premarket trading Monday.
That $22 target is also Nomura's reiterated number, albeit with a "Buy" rating.