This morning, CNBC published a slide show that was to be given by GE’s CEO John Flannery at an investment forum in Boston. It is dangerous to draw conclusions from merely looking at a PPT and not having the context of the presentation, but there are a few interesting points that I found during my flight to Boston.
1. The below slides shows 125 years of innovation and lighting is only mentioned one time. Hasn’t GE had at least one other lighting innovation since inventing the bulb 125 years ago. Lighting is so strongly associated with GE, one would think that there would be a few innovations if Lighting were important to their future.
2. The segment outlook for Lighting looks pretty good. OP of 15% compares quite well to many of the other segments, but we have no idea where Current’s OP fits. NOTE: One of our sources believes that Lighting shows a -15%, but we read the slide as showing an ~ to mean asymptotically equal.
3. The GE of the Future slide does not bode well as there is no mention or even a hint for Lighting or Current.
4. The Leadership Team could be a very good indicator for Current. We don’t see a picture of Bill Lacey, President of GE Lighting, but we do see Maryrose pictured. Would she be part of the leadership team if Current were on the block–I think not. This particular slide could be a very positive indicator for Current’s Future.
Developing…