General Electric (GE) reported higher first-quarter earnings today as profit rose at all its units except GE Industrial.
GE said net earnings rose to $4.51 billion, or 44 cents per diluted share, from $4.44 billion, or 42 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected profit of 44 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue was up 5.7 per cent.
The world's second-largest company by market valuation, GE has counted on the depth and variety of its operations and its large presence outside the United States to keep its profit rising even as the US economy slows.
But GE shares have lagged the major US financial indexes this year. They are down 5.5 per cent so far in 2007, while the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average, of which GE is a component, is up 0.7 per cent.