The company reported wider-than-expected losses
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) stepped into the earnings confessional this morning, reporting a second-quarter loss of 15 cents per share, which was wider than Wall Street's estimates. Revenue, meanwhile, beat analysts' forecasts, driven mainly by sales in the power and renewable energy divisions. Additionally, GE reported a $2.1 billion loss in industrial free cash flow, which was smaller than the guidance the company released earlier in the year. As a result, the shares of GE are down 2.8% at $6.66.
Last time we checked in on General Electric stock, the company had just named a new independent auditor for the 2021 fiscal year. Unfortunately, not much has changed on the charts since then, with the 100-day moving average we mentioned continuing to act as resistance. General Electric stock is still eyeing marginal three-month gains, though it's now suffering a 38.3% year-to-date slump.
Meanwhile, options bulls are out in droves, per General Electric stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.14 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits in the elevated 74th percentile of readings from the past year. This indicates that traders have bought just over three GE calls for every put during the past two weeks, meaning an unwinding of these bullish bets could put more pressure on the shares.
Lastly, short interest is falling, down 20.6% in the last two reporting periods. The 87.98 million shares sold short represent just 1% of the stock's available float. In simpler terms, it would take less than one day to buy back these bearish bets.