stocks

GE shares drop the most in 9 years after CEO warns power business to show no profit growth

Key Points
  • GE stock dropped more than 7 percent in trading Wednesday, heading toward its largest decline in a day since Nov. 13.
  • The industrial conglomerate revealed it expects no profit growth this year in its already stagnant GE power business.
GE shares tank after CEO gives outlook
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GE shares tank after CEO gives outlook

General Electric stock dropped more than 7 percent in trading Wednesday after the company revealed it expects no profit growth this year in its already stagnant power business.

CEO John Flannery revealed in a presentation that he believes the market for GE's large gas powered turbines will remain weak through 2020.

Shares of GE fell as far as $14.11 and closed at $14.18. The 7.3 percent drop is its worst since an 8.4 percent drop on April 20, 2009.

Flannery also declined to comment about whether the company would cut the company's dividend again in 2019.

"We have to see how this plays out," Flannery said to analysts at the annual Electrical Products Group conference in Florida, according to Reuters.

Wednesday's drop was a reversal in trend for the shares, which are up 20 percent the last two months. The stock hit a low of $12.83 on April 9, two weeks before its first quarter earnings.

The presentation repeated GE's forecast for 2018 earnings, as Flannery said there is "no change" to the $1.00 per share to $1.07 per share expectation the industrial conglomerate announced at the end of 2017.