General Electric said today that first-quarter profit fell nearly 9 per cent as gas turbine sales dropped sharply and plastics earnings were more than halved.
For the past year, GE has said earnings would decline at its power systems unit, which makes gas turbines, as capital spending on power-generation facilities has slowed.
GE Power Systems still produced more quarterly profit than any of the company's other businesses, which range from television broadcasting to jet-engine manufacturing.
Profit at GE Plastics, however, tumbled 56 per cent on higher raw material costs, such as oil and benzene. The results were worse than what GE forecast in January, when it estimated an earnings decline of no more than 15 per cent at the unit.
Shares of the Fairfield, Connecticut, company fell to $27.20 in trading before the market opened from yesterday's New York Stock Exchange close of $27.38.
GE reported first-quarter earnings of $3.2 billion, or 32 cents a share, before a required accounting change, down from $3.5 billion, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.
The results were in line with GE's own forecast and the analysts' average estimate compiled by research firm Thomson First Call.
GE Chairman Mr Jeff Immelt said he remains comfortable with the company's full-year earnings forecast of $1.55 to $1.70 per share, or 3 percent to 13 percent growth over 2002. The broad range indicates some uncertainty in GE's outlook.
First-quarter revenue fell 1 per cent to $30.3 billion because of fewer gas turbine sales and less revenue from NBC television, which in the year-ago period benefited from its Winter Olympics coverage.