GE says it's 'not Lehman,' but stock still takes hitsPublished

GE says it's 'not Lehman,' but stock still takes hits
Published: September 19. 2008 12:01AM
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VideoAd by Mixpo The anxiety over the U.S. financial system has spread far beyond Wall Street to infect any company that's involved in loans, finance and credit, even dragging down the value of huge conglomerate General Electric Co.Its shares have been battered over the past few days, even though slightly more than half of GE's business is making light bulbs, jet engines, locomotives, water treatment plants and other major manufacturing goods."It's trading as a financial stock this year," said analyst Matt Collins at Edward Jones in St. Louis. "Right now, the credit crisis has gone well beyond just the Wall Street institutions."GE Capital is the conglomerate's financial business that provides consumer finance in car loans, mortgages outside the United States, credit cards and other products. Its commercial side finances real estate, corporate lending and leasing.

And GE also finances energy projects and airline leasing.In the last 10 days, the share price has tumbled nearly 20 percent as Wall Street grapples with chaos in the financial markets. Since April, when GE widely missed its first-quarter earnings target, almost $83 billion in GE's market capitalization has been wiped out, a loss of 25 percent."No one is immune in this market and no one has been spared and they certainly are in that basket," said Eric Boyce, portfolio manager at Hester Capital Management in Texas.However, GE originates its own loans, avoiding the loan packaging and selling that have sunk many other lenders, he said.GE spokesman Russell Wilkerson emphasized what the company is not."We're not AIG. We're not Lehman. It's not our business model. We're not a bank," he said.-- wire report