NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- General Electric's investor relations executives are telling Wall Street analysts that CEO Jeff Immelt has no intention of leaving the company, despite a Barclays research report that the chairman and CEO could be out within a year. Barclays analyst Scott Davis wrote Monday that "most investors are ready for change at the top" of GE and that CFO Jeff Bornstein "may now be the front-runner for the next CEO post. Our view is that this could come sooner (within a year or so) than later." GE shares have lost 37% since Immelt took over for Jack Welch on Sept. 7, 2001 versus a 78% gain for the S&P 500. Calls to break up the company have continued unabated since the financial crisis, and while GE has exited several businesses and shrunk its financial unit, the conglomerate remains far too large and unwieldy for many investors and analysts. Davis wrote Bornstein has "a more open mind on portfolio simplification," and is "a breath of fresh air from the usual GE PR machine." GE's investor relations department, however, has been making light of the Davis report, according to two people aware of the conversations between analysts and the IR department. They have joked, for example, that they weren't aware Davis was a member of GE's board of directors. Davis declined comment, as did GE spokesman Seth Martin. One analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity characterized Bornstein as very smart and no nonsense. "There is no question you can ask him that he doesn't know the answer to," the analyst said. The analyst worries, however, that Bornstein, 54, may lack the vision of Immelt. Still, he said he would not downgrade the stock if Bornstein were named CEO. Bornstein joined GE in 1989 and has worked in several areas of the company. Prior to his current role, he was CFO of GE Capital.
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