| Company: | General Electric Company |
| Ticker Symbol: | GE |
| Class Period: | Mar-12-08 to Apr-10-08 |
| Date Filed: | Sep-8-08 |
| Lead Plaintiff Deadline: | Nov-7-08 |
| Court: | District of Connecticut |
| Allegations: | |
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period GE made materially false and misleading statements regarding, among other things, the Company's 1Q08 earnings guidance, including earnings per share ("EPS"), the performance of GE's financial services division, the Company's sale of key real estate assets and the ability of the Company's Consumer and Industrial division and Healthcare division to sell certain products.
The complaint alleges that defendants provided a 1Q08 EPS guidance of $.50-.53, and FY08 guidance of $2.42 "or greater." This would represent EPS growth of 10% at a minimum. Despite repeated reassurance by GE directly to its investors, however, the complaint alleges that the Company shocked the market and its investors when it released its 1Q08 results on April 11, 2008. Instead of reporting a 1Q08 EPS of $0.50-0.53 and improving on 1Q07 results, as the Company had assured its investors that it would just weeks before, GE reported a significantly lower 1Q08 EPS of $0.43, down 2% from the 1Q07. As the market reacted to these disclosures, GE's stock declined $4.70 per share from $36.75 to close at $32.05 per share on volume of over 366 million shares, representing a 13% drop that wiped out approximately $47 billion in market value.
The complaint also alleges that defendants failed to disclose that GE's financial services division was underperforming prior representations and that GE's Consumer and Industrial and Healthcare Divisions were experiencing an inability to sell certain products and real estate assets of approximately $900 million.
If you acquired the securities of the defendants during the Class Period you may, no later than the Lead Plaintiff Deadline shown above, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff through counsel of your choice. You may also choose to remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff must meet certain requirements.
