General Management

Bud Fox: "It's called pasta now, Dad. Spaghetti's out of date."
Carl Fox: "Yeah, well so am I."
--Wall Street

Almost makes you want to take the other side of the trade when folks start questioning GE's management style and calling it 'out of date.'

I recall similar tone during the Internet run up when 'new economy' managers were criticizing the decision-making styles of their 'old school' counterparts. Slow, too much structure, risk averse, etc.

Most of those doing the critiques are long gone.

That said, I can't get excited about GE's stock. This company is still leveraged big time, sporting nearly $700 billion (yep) of liabilities against just over $100 billion in equity. Most of the debt run up has been a function of the former GE Capital (now split into Finance-Business and Finance-Consumer). Moreover, unlike others who have cut their leverage over the past couple of yrs, GE has not.

While there is much to respect about GE's managerial processes and some of their business (like energy and water), as long as it remains a 'financial in drag' I'll stay away.

no position