Time to buy GE?

[Craig T]

I bought GE in 2009 for $7.00. Sold it a couple years later for $25. It went to $30. Then, I just couldn't imagine a well diversified Fortune 100 holding company going away.

It's different now. Divested of its healthcare and financial holdings, it's a bet on aviation and energy. There's better places to bet on energy, and aviation isn't exactly an innovative growth industry. Plus, a new "outsider" CEO is not always a sure thing.

Nothing pulling at me to jump in again at $7.00. I'll wait for some consistent good news and a trend upward...But then as always, It'll be too late.

[Chocaholic]

Closed at 10.19 today.

So, did I buy at $6.71 when I opened this thread?


Nope.

Damn.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Closed at 10.19 today.

So, did I buy at $6.71 when I opened this thread?


Nope.

Damn.

No worries, next week it could be $5

[Chocaholic]

Originally Posted by masraum

No worries, next week it could be $5

Or $15.

[VincentVega]

funny

I'm long, way too long.

[Cajundaddy]

Bottom feeders can make or lose a lot of money in a hurry. If you like roulette and are quick with your buy/sell orders, this may be for you.

I am a long term investor only and I don't see a long term upside for GE. Too many years without innovation, vision, or creative energy. Not my cup of tea.

[biosurfer1]

I'm strictly a dividend growth investor and should have jumped ship when they cut their dividend but thought it was a blip...they they slashed it to practically nothing and that was that.

Not only do dividend stocks do better historically, their dividend can usually give insight of impending doom long before outward signs show up.

You just have to be smart enough to act on the signs unlike this guy.

[Mahler9th]

Sigh... I haven't followed their misfortunes-- some day I think I will need to do so. Like the death of an old friend.

I left high school and went to work that summer in a GE program for students-- part of a scholarship I won. Any time I was off from college and engineering grad school for three weeks or more, I worked in that GE biz. This was in the Jack Welch era.

In the early days when I didn't have any wheels I was able to carpool with some of the engineering and biz execs that lived relatively nearby. All biz talk. Got me interested in business leadership. One of those guys that made an impression went on to lead all GE CR&D under Mr. Welch.

So as I was being educated at school, I was learning about engineering and its interface with biz management. I even got to do some subsystem design work on some early CAT scan and digital x-ray products. But the key thing was being able to swim in that environment. I learned so much.

After grad school we could not connect as they were going through the neutron Jack phase, so I went to work for a competitor as a marketing/biz professional. The transition from engineering to biz was enabled by all of that experience. A few years later I finally scored a marketing job at that same GE biz-- again a fantastic learning experience. I was only there a few years as a biz professional, but it left an indelible stamp.

A couple of years ago I attended a milestone event at my alma mater (Dartmouth), and one of the guest speakers was Jeff Immelt (he graduated as I was arriving). He gave a presentation about what they were up to (all public domain of course), and I noted how different the pitch was compared to some styles I have been exposed to here in SV.

The world is changing really, really fast. I imagine that quite a few of these types of companies will decline based on plain statistics-- that is they may be doomed because successful transformation, despite the most perfect undertakings, fits into a very slim range of possible outcomes.

Quite a few companies have rapidly melting icebergs.

We live in interesting times.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by KC911

Wouldn't buy GE stock, but have purchased a couple of their short term bond offerings....6.5-7% yields.

Those bonds, purchased well bellow par value back in Nov. are up over 10%, still below par...guaranteed yield around 5%. In general...all other equities are still down quite a bit....I'm happy. I don't even try to play volatility with equities....I suck

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Thinkin that this spot on as I bet the people in the company doesn't either..........

GE is more like a holding company much like old GM. Back in the day, commonly known as Generous Electric, I owned this stock and did very well - I agree with others here, I don't know what GE is anymore.