GE profit up but revenue forecast trimmed amid sluggish economy

REUTERS - General Electric Co reported a 6.7 percent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, helped by strength in its power and renewable energy businesses.

But slow economic growth, particularly in the oil and gas business, continued to weigh on revenue, prompting GE to lower its revenue growth target and to narrow the range of its profit forecast for the year.

Organic revenue, which excludes growth from acquisitions, rose 1 percent in the quarter, below GE's forecast of 2 percent to 4 percent for the full year.

Analysts had been looking for GE to report stronger revenue growth after a weak first half. But oil and gas revenue fell 25 percent in the quarter.

GE trimmed its full-year revenue forecast to flat to 2 percent growth.

The company's shares slipped 0.4 percent to $28.95 in premarket trading.

Net income from continuing operations rose to $2.10 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $1.97 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 23 cents from 19 cents.

Total revenue grew 4.4 percent to $29.27 billion.

GE's adjusted profit jumped 10 percent to 32 cents a share, beating the 30 cents that analysts estimated, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

GE also narrowed its profit forecast to between $1.48 and $1.52 a share, compared with the $1.45 to $1.55 a share it forecast at the end of the second quarter.

Analysts had been targeting second-half growth of about 15 percent in GE's power business, GE's largest division. In the third quarter, power revenue grew only about 7 percent.

(Reporting by Alwyn Scott in New York and Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Bernadette Baum)