GE Only Releases Guidance Once A Year, And This Is It

General Electric Company GE provides guidance to the investment community just once a year - and did so on Wednesday.

GE's CEO and Chairman Jeff Immelt guided the company's fiscal 2017 earnings per share to be in a range of $1.60 to $1.70, which compares to Wall Street's consensus estimate of $1.67 per share. GE also guided its fiscal 2018 earnings per share to be around $2.00.

2016 Update

GE also provided an update on its performance so far in fiscal 2016 and compared it to the same period a year ago.

• Operating EPS of $1.48 to $1.52 versus $1.45 to $1.55 a year ago.
• Organic growth of 0 to 2 percent versus 2 to 4 percent a year ago.
• Free cash flow + dispositions of $32 billion-plus versus $28 billion to $31 billion a year ago.
• Dividend payments of $8 billion versus $8 billion a year ago.
• Share buybacks of $22 billion versus $18 billion a year ago.

Today Versus Tomorrow

GE described its business today as being a "premium industrial business" composed of two divisions: 1) Essential (builds, powers, moves, cures) and 2) Valuable (foundation of the GE Store).

The company is positioning itself for the future and create "new levels of productivity for GE, our customers and the world." The company will be split into two categories: 1) Leadership in analytics and software for assets and 2) Leadership in next generation manufacturing.