J.P. Morgan lowered its price target on General Electric (NYSE: GE) stock to $10 per share from $11 per share on Thursday, calling a recent gas turbine failure in Texas "a negative development for a company that has little wiggle room" in its struggling power business.
"Bottom line, while we give GE some benefit of the doubt in its comments [minimizing the issue], we think the mere occurrence is significant in the context of the state of the story," J.P. Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa said in a note.
Shares of GE fell 30 cents, or 2.3%, in Thursday trading to $12.56, down from Wednesday's close of $12.86 per share. GE's stock has fallen nearly 50% over the last 12 months. It reached a nine-year low of $11.94 last month.
J.P. Morgan now assumes "weaker results at power and some franchise value impact" for GE, Tusa said.
"We have said time and again how orders at GE do not ultimately equal cash flow, but here the story could be how orders may equal losses and liabilities with a mosaic that confirms our concerns around the on-the-ground impact of everything that has transpired in the past decade," Tusa added.
Also newsworthy: GE’s transportation division announced Wednesday at InnoTrans 2018 that Indian Railways has confirmed its acceptance of GE’s 4,500-horsepower diesel-electric Evolution Series prototype locomotive.
This critical milestone was achieved following the successful completion of rigorous testing on Indian Railways’ tracks following the locomotive handover last February.
