General Electric profit meets expectations, shares up

The results come three months after GE stunned Wall Street with an unexpected drop in quarterly profit, saying the global credit crunch and near collapse of Bear Stearns Cos had taken a heavy toll on its finance arms, which make up about half its business.

"There was a lot of concern as to the credit crisis that was going on and how it was going to effect GE Money," said Perry Adams, vice president and senior portfolio manager at Huntington Private Financial Group, in Traverse City, Michigan. "They were down 9 percent, but consensus had them down 15 to 20 percent."

The second-largest United States company by market capitalization said net income came to 5.07 billion dollars, or 51 cents per share, down from $5.38 billion, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier.

Earnings from continuing operations were flat at 54 cents per diluted share, meeting the average Wall Street estimate as compiled by Reuters Estimates.

The strongest growth, as expected, came at GE's infrastructure unit, where earnings were up 24 percent. Commercial finance profit rose 7 percent.

The size and breadth of GE's operations -- which range from leasing aircraft to manufacturing lightbulbs to running NBC Universal media -- make it a bellwether of the United States economy.

GE shares rose 46 cents to $28.10 before the bell, up from a $27.64 close on the New York Stock Exchange.

As of Thursday's close, GE shares were down about 25 percent since the first-quarter results were announced, a far steeper drop than the 11 percent decline of the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average.