GE drops after posting lower 3rd-qtr earnings

Shares of General Electric Co. slipped Monday after the company reported a 22 percent decline in third-quarter earnings due to softening profits at its loan and leasing business.

On Friday, GE reported quarterly net income of $4.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, for the three months ended in September. During the same period a year earlier, the company earned $5.56 billion, or 54 cents per share.

Sales rose 11 percent to $47.23 billion.

In an investor note issued Friday, analyst Nicole Parent of Credit Suisse noted that the results were generally in line with expectations.

"Given the absence of more bad news, we could see GE shares stabilize or even rally in the near term as investors park money in the shares during earnings season," wrote Parent, who has a "Neutral" rating on the stock.

However, GE shares fell 50 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $21 Monday. Shares of the Fairfield, Conn.-based company, which owns NBC Universal and makes products ranging from jet engines to water treatment systems, have traded between $18.40 and $42.09 over the past 52 weeks.

GE has cited weaker profits at GE Capital, which provides financing ranging from consumer car loans to energy project lending. Since the spring, troubled credit markets and waning confidence in global financial systems have cut into profits there.