General Electric cuts forecast as it misses on third quarter revenue

GE narrowed its earnings outlook to between $1.48 and $1.52 per share, from a previous range of $1.45 and $1.55. Moreover, revenue is judged to be between 0% to 2%, a cut from 2%-4%.

The US company reported a 6.7% rise in quarterly profit, but revenue missed on analyst expectations for revenue, posting $29.27bn, some $370m short. However, this was still a rise of 4.4% from the same quarter last year.

Adjusted earnings for Q3 came in at 32 cents per share, narrowly beating the 30 cents per share envisaged by Wall Street before the release.

GE's power, aviation and renewable energy segments posted the most impressive results, with the likes of oil and gas continuing to struggle.

The lending division of GE was able to disregard its designation as a "systematically important" financial institution, something which investors felt was holding the company back as it was forced to shed assets.

"Our strength as a diverse, Digital Industrial company continues to enable us to deliver in a slow growth, volatile environment," chairman and CEO of GE Jeff Imelt said in a statement.

"This quarter, our teams earned $0.32 of earnings per share with strong performance in Power, Renewable Energy, Aviation, and Healthcare."

In premarket trading, shares in General Electric were slightly down by 0.6% to $28.90.