GE Posts Strong Quarterly Profits

World’s largest jet engines and wind turbine manufacturer, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) posted better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results as CEO Jeff Immelt’s deeper focus both on energy equipment business and emerging markets offset lackluster demand in the U.S and Europe.

Shares were gaining 3.50% premarket trading.

The Company reported net income of $4 billion, 38 cents a share, up from $3.7 billion, 35 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter. After excluding onetime items, earnings (non-GAAP) stood at 44 cents a share, a penny above analysts’ consensus estimate. Revenue came in at $39.3 billion against Street’s expectation of $38.74 billion.

The Company said that operating margins climbed 120 basis points during the fourth quarter while backlog of orders, a key gauge on Infrastructure Company’s performance matrix as it is an indicator of future sales, hit record high of $210 billion in the same period. In the fiscal third quarter, backlog of orders stood at $203 billion.

“The backlog was a really good number. I didn’t expect to see a $7 billion, 3.5 percent rise in the backlog,” commented Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp, speaking to CNBC.

The Company attributed strong growth to growing business in China and other resources rich emerging markets.

“The outlook for developed markets remains uncertain, but we are seeing growth in China and the resource rich countries,” said Immelt in a statement to analysts and investors.

Profits were seen across all divisions. While profit in jet engine unit jumped 22 percent, GE’s oil and gas division posted a profit of14 percent. GE Capital, a financial arm of the company saw profit rising by 8.9 percent to $1.8 billion percent. Revenue in the industrial divisions, (jet engine, and oil and energy unit), rose 3.9% to $2.1 billion. Overall profit in the industrial division increased 12% to $4.9 billion. GE Capital sales rose 1.7% to $11.8 billion.

GE is also putting lots of emphasis on cut cutting measures across-the-board. Immelt has stressed that the company will try to increase its operating profit to 15.8% to sales by the end of fiscal 2013.