If they stop paying dividends what would happen to the stock price? Wont it go up due to retained earnings not being paid out? I bought 1000 shares yesterday at 10.80 but I wrote 10 covered calls today with a strike price of 11 in March for (1.28 a share) (so that would be my dividend if GE decides not to pay anymore dividends) I wanted to grab the dividend today but get the premium and hopefully GE stays between 9-12 by march. If GE is under 11 then I will write calls for 11 or 10 if I do not lose the stock in march. Do you think GE will be over 11 by march?
Just curious. With all the stocks out there with better looking patterns, better prospects, not in financials, why GE? Is there some prize if you get this one right, I mean, besides the money? Like a trophy? If you think Barry is going to end this thing in financials, you didn't see the stimulus package. If Barry had the size package the stimulus bill had, Michelle never let hiim out of the White House. And the Italian Finance minister says more European Bank failures. Everything is intertwined. Huge float. It'll take the queen Mary to move this thing. There are so many more ideas to fool with. And lets' face it..... Immelt is suspect. The dividend thing, the acquisition. Too late to short. Too early to buy. Good luck though.
This has so little to do with anykind of shorts its not funny. 1.3% short interest in the stock. You guys realy need to stop blaming shorters.
It wasn't me who asked that question. I'm just repeating it. Naked shorts don't show in reported interest. It's x clearing. Maybe with the Dow at 4500 you'll think differently.
This reminds me of a short story in Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Livermore smelled disaster when a company boosted Divi in a financial turbulent period. I have no position here, gl.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt says we may see an all-out depression. That can't be good: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97a266aa-...00779fd2ac.html GE chief warns on US depression threat By Francesco Guerrera and Justin Baer in New York Published: February 6 2009 02:00 | Last updated: February 6 2009 02:00 The US economy is suffering its steepest downturn since at least the 1970s and could descend into a depression, Jeff Immelt, General Electric's chief executive, warned yesterday. He said businesses and consumers were struggling to contend with tumultuous markets and a financial services industry under siege. "Unlike the other downturns that I've been a part of, this one is faced with limited liquidity," Mr Immelt, GE's chief since 2001 told a conference. "Once you break through '74-'75, you don't stop 'til you get to 1929." When asked whether he would call the current slowdown a recession or a depression, Mr Immelt joked that he would need to refer to his college economics text book for a precise answer but said "it is one of those". He contended that governments were "firing as many bullets" as they could to stimulate economic growth and stabilise the credit markets. Those measures, he said, should begin to take hold by early next year. "Governments are all in," he said. "And in my view, government always wins." GE remains one of the world's largest and most-profitable companies, with operations in dozens of countries and an array of businesses that range from aircraft engines and medical-imaging equipment to cable television and lightbulbs. Yet the unfolding credit crisis has crimped profit at GE's own financial services business, raising concerns for the company's strategy and once-unquestioned financial strength. GE has responded to the crisis with steps to shrink the finance arm, GE Capital, and its funding needs. But unlike GE's response to the early 1990s downturn, Mr Immelt said the company would not rebuild GE Capital through a spate of acquisitions of distressed assets. Any likely acquisition targets would instead augment GE's industrial businesses. At the discussion, which was hosted by the Wall Street Journal, Boston Consulting Group and IESE Business School, Mr Immelt reiterated that he would not cut GE's stock dividend or veer away from a plan to run GE as a company with a triple A credit grade, even if ratings firms eventually opt to lower its debt. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009