Under normal circumstances, an earnings report that features beats on the top and bottom line leads to good news for the company’s stock. But GE Healthcare (NASDAQ:GEHC) discovered sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. Despite a fantastic earnings report, GE Healthcare was still down over 9% at the time of writing.
With earnings at $0.85 per share against projections calling for $0.79 and revenue of $4.71 billion versus the expected $4.63 billion, it should have been great news for investors. That revenue figure was up 8.5% against the same time last year. It even declared a $0.03 dividend. So what ended up sending GE Healthcare on a rocket sled to the bargain basement?
As it turns out, GE Healthcare decided to take another look at its full-year 2023 outlook and make a few changes. Investors were not at all happy that the original projections might not work out. There was strong revenue growth across all of its segments. Further, there were signs that the supply chain problems that have plagued so many businesses were starting to relent. But there are still many potentially destabilizing elements out there, like inflation and geopolitical issues, that might make a second look called for.
There’s one other serious problem at GE Healthcare: insider trading. Right now, insiders aren’t feeling particularly confident about the stock as a whole. Investor confidence is on the low side of Neutral right now. Part of that stems from how investors sold off $5.4 million worth of the stock in the last three months alone.
