GE Great Numbers Short Sermon

GE (GE) reported Record 4Q and Full-Year Results for 2007; 4Q EPS up 17%; 18% for the Year 4Q Orders of $27 billion, up 18%; 4Q Revenues of $48.6 billion, up 18%; Infrastructure Segment Profit up 26%; Global Revenues up 27% and if that was not good enough they reaffirmed 2008 guidance.

The numbers look good of course. But the report is just too abbreviated for many investors taste. In the fourth quarter GE experienced revenues of $48.6 Billion and profits of $6.8 Billion. That's a really big operation with a lot of moving parts. The press release provided summarized comments on a super macro level. Healthcare, NBC, Financial Services are all dealt with in just a few words.

Hard to track the investment at this level. If a problem develops how will investors be able to assess the context. This week the market has been tough and maybe the PR types talked management into an abbreviated cheerleader style press release. But for this size of company you need some meat and potatoes.