General Electric has posted a quarterly profit of $4.5 billion, up just 2% on the same three months last year, but 10% higher based on continuing operations.
The company said strong sales of equipment for aviation and the oil industry and some improvement in its NBC entertainment unit helped boost its first quarter performance.
The per-share profit excluding one-time costs of 44 cents a share was in line with Wall Street estimates.
GE is the world's second-largest company by market capitalisation and is often viewed as a bellwether for the overall US economy.
The company said revenues increased 6% to $40.2 billion in the January-March period.
In January this year pharmaceutical and healthcare giant, Abbott, which employs 900 people in Ireland, said it would sell its diagnostic businesses to General Electric Healthcare for $8.19 billion.
