General Electric (NYSE: GE) reported earnings on July 30. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), General Electric met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew slightly and GAAP earnings per share contracted significantly.

Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
General Electric booked revenue of $36.50 billion. The nine analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see net sales of $36.80 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 2.5% higher than the prior-year quarter's $35.62 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.38. The 13 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.37 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.29 for Q2 were 17% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.35 per share. (The prior-year quarter included $0.02 per share in earnings from discontinued operations.)

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 35.4%, 130 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 12.1%, 110 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 8.5%, 210 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $36.71 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.37.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $148.64 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.54.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 15,438 members out of 16,481 rating the stock outperform, and 1,043 members rating it underperform. Among 3,095 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 2,918 give General Electric a green thumbs-up, and 177 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on General Electric is outperform, with an average price target of $22.32.

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