General Electric said today that its third-quarter profit and revenue fell, mainly due to its shrinking finance business and the negative effects of foreign currency.
However, the US industrial conglomerate posted a record backlog of orders and said earnings rose at six of its seven industrial businesses.
Chairman and chief executive Jeff Immelt noted the results were "were very strong in an improving global business environment."
Wall Street looked beyond the slight decline in quarterly revenue and pointed to GE's improving profit margins and growing order demand for everything from jet engines and turbines to oil pumps.
The industrial giant said that net income fell to $3.19 billion, or 31 cents a share, from $3.49 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, earnings of 36 cents per share topped the average estimate of analysts by a penny, according to Thomson Reuters.
Revenue in the three month period fell 1.5% to $35.7 billion. Analysts had expected a figue of nearly $36 billion.
GE said the negative impact of foreign currency took a $132m toll on revenue.
Among GE's seven industrial segments, its oil and gas and aviation lines posted revenue increases of 18% and 12%, respectively, offsetting a 10% decline in its power and water business that makes a variety of turbines.
The company's accumulated backlog of service and equipment orders for items such as jet engines and turbines grew to $229 billion, up $6 billion from the second quarter.
