The stock market got some much-needed respite from the recent downdraft on Monday, but Wall Street didn't seem able to sustain its momentum for more than a day. The latest fears among investors are coming from China, where strict pandemic-related policies to keep COVID-19 case counts as low as possible have led to lockdown measures in highly populated areas like Shanghai and an aggressive testing regimen in Beijing. The resulting consequences on global growth could be severe, and that sent stock futures down. As of 7:30 a.m. ET, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.69%) were down 151 points to 33,814. S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.20%) futures had dropped 19 points to 4,274, while Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.59%) futures had lost 69 points to 13,467.
Another detractor from market sentiment came from the latest financial results among well-known companies. Both General Electric (GE 8.28%) and Polaris (PII -1.93%) saw their share prices fall in premarket trading after releasing their reports, and shareholders in both companies want to see more from their respective management teams on how the businesses can overcome the substantial challenges they're facing right now.
GE stays on its long-term path
Shares of General Electric were down more than 3% on Tuesday morning. Although the company continued to make progress on its long-term plan to try to reorganize and turn around its component businesses, its immediate financial results didn't inspire a lot of confidence.
GE's numbers told the story. Revenue of $17 billion was flat, with the company claiming a slight 0.8% sales gain on an organic basis. General Electric posted a loss under regular accounting rules, but its adjusted earnings of $0.24 per share were nearly double what it posted in the year-earlier period.
GE's various businesses saw disparate performance. The aviation segment was relatively strong, with revenue climbing 12% on a 31% jump in orders. Segment profit rose 42% year over year. However, the renewable energy business was extremely weak, posting a 12% drop in segment sales as losses worsened by 85%. Sluggish performance in the power and healthcare segments reflected many different challenges, including supply chain constraints, lingering COVID-19 impacts, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
General Electric still believes it's positioning itself well for the future. However, it expects its full-year fiscal 2022 results will probably come in toward the low end of its previously stated range, and investors are getting impatient to see more progress from the industrial giant in its turnaround efforts.
Image source: Getty Images.
Polaris feels the pressure
Shares of Polaris saw even larger losses, falling nearly 9% in premarket trading. The maker of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles said demand remained healthy, but the company is having to deal with the same inflationary pressures that many individuals currently face.
Polaris' financial results were mixed. Sales came in flat year over year at $1.96 billion. However, gross margin plunged by more than 4 percentage points to 20.3%. That sent net income down by nearly half from year-ago levels, and adjusted earnings of $1.29 per share were down 44% from where they were in the first quarter of 2021.
The company's off-road segment saw the biggest pressure from supply chain issues and higher input costs. Snowmobile sales were strong, but weakness in other off-road vehicle sales weighed on overall performance, as unit retail sales were down more than 25% in North America. Polaris was able to use its pricing power to some extent to offset higher expenses, but gross margin for the off-road segment was still down more than seven percentage points to 19.2%.
Polaris still believes it will see 12% to 15% revenue growth in 2022, with earnings up 11% to 14% from 2021 levels. However, investors seem less confident in those projections, and the losses are threatening to send the stock to levels not seen in more than a year.
