GE Offers Promising Outlook for Aviation

General Electric (NYSE:GE) released earnings on Friday, beating EPS forecasts by $0.05 and revenue by $1.74 Billion.  That didn't prevent their stock from taking a 1.8% hit pre-market, however, due primarily to a 2% decline in orders and what they described as a "volatile and slow-growth economy."

The news, however, appears rather bright for the Aviation industries.  GE reported a strong first half of the year in that industry, and is forecasting the remainder of 2016 to remain strong as well.  There were a couple of items that bode well for the airlines, at least according to GE.  They saw commercial traffic growth of over 6% this year, down a bit from last year, but still experiencing a healthy growth pattern.  Additionally, the airplane load factor remains at 80% for the second year in a row, and GE reports over 2 million departures added in the past year.

GE reports, not surprisingly, that jet fuel continues to be deflationary, and is down over 50% over a three-year period.  When you combine the lower fuel costs, increased passenger demand, and a very strong load factor, it's reasonable to expect a healthy year for what has been an oddly depressed airline industry that has been in an Elliott Wave zig-zag and flat pair of corrective patterns for the past 18-months.  (Do keep in mind the Schlumberger warnings of an impending oil supply deficit, however.  If that manifests, it will put an end to depressed jet fuel costs.)

You can see the overall pattern for the airline index in this weekly chart:

Airline Index Weekly Chart

We can see on the chart that the index started a steep uptrend in October, 2011.  It then traced out a very distinctive 5-wave impulse pattern that completed in January, 2015.  Since then, however, it completed a classic A-B-C Zig-Zag pattern, retracing almost 50% of the prior impulse pattern, and it looks like it's starting a possible flat correction now.  This overall pattern appears to be Wave 2 of a larger overall 5-wave Impulse, so once this corrective pattern completes, we can look forward to a very healthy third wave impulse.  Long-term traders should enjoy a very nice 3 or 4 year bull trend in airlines once that wave kicks off.  The way this pattern is trending, though, that may not happen until 2017.

Returning to GE, there were some additional interesting comments related to defense spending.  They forecast it to be flat in 2017 here in the US.  Given the number of industries here dependent upon defense spending, that's a cautionary note that we'll have to carefully watch.  Now, this flat projection may well be due to the number of sizeable contracts that were awarded in 2015 and early '16, so a pause in new contracts is to be expected, but it will be important to watch other companies in the industry to see how this matches their own forecasts and revenue plans.

Interestingly, GE forecasts international defense spending to be up 4% globally (excluding the US.)  That comes at a time when Europe is teetering on recession and facing the unknown threat of Brexit, so that 4% value is likely depressed due to the state of the global economy.  Should the economy heat up, it's reasonable to expect a similar increase in global defense spending, especially at a time when the terror threat appears to be spreading to parts of Western Europe.

With US defense spending flat but international defense spending up, we'll need to watch for companies that have a strong global stake.  These would include Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Boeing (NYSE:BA), and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN).  Fire Support, a defense marketing website includes an excellent list of the top 100 global defense companies for 2015.  While the list is a year old, the major players in this space have not changed.  If you're looking for companies that will benefit from growth in international defense spending, this is an excellent place to start.

From a trading perspective, it looks like there will be some short-term potential plays in the airlines, but be aware that there should be at least one more downward wave in the correction.  Longer term players can look forward to growth of a bit over 200% in the airline index from 2017 to 2021 if the Elliott Wave pattern holds true. For defense contractors, look more for trades in companies servicing overseas orders.  Just be aware of the impact the strong US dollar will have on their exchange rate and earnings forecasts. 

Happy Trading.

GE Sees Strong Regional Growth, Large Impact From Oil

General Electric (NYSE: GE) released earnings yesterday, and provided a detailed sector by sector view of how 2015 should develop around the globe.  Confirming the outlook provided by other key global companies, they see strong growth in the US continuing through the next year.  Reading through their transcript, the forecast for India and China appears to be a bit more subdued, and the major drags on the world economy will be Russia, Europe, and Japan.

The two major forces dragging on profits continue to be the strength of the US dollar and the extremely low price of oil.  While the latter is helping a few sectors - primarily aviation and transportation - it is having a much more significant negative impact elsewhere.  In fact, GE is already implementing job reductions, restructuring in certain areas, and the execution of simplification projects all in an attempt to reduce cost structures.  The longer oil prices remain this low, the greater will be the impact.

The impact of oil prices can be felt in other areas as well.  Subsea orders dropped 38%, and orders for drilling equipment dropped 72%.  The decline makes sense, since oil is now trading below the break-even point for most types of extraction.  Expect this area to continue to be depressed well into 2015, and expect to see regional economic pressures in areas dependent upon oil exploration and production.

The one energy area experiencing tremendous growth, however, is natural gas.  Orders for turbo machinery related to natural gas were up 60%, primarily in North America, the Middle East, and Russia.  That's not much of a surprise given the amount of natural gas produced in those three regions.  It's a good indication that there are some plays out there in the exploration and production sector, since those companies were beaten to a pulp in the last quarter.  Scouring that list for companies with a strong natural gas presence should provide an excellent entry opportunity. 

As to the US dollar, there is no indication of weakening on the horizon.  With the ECB's QE announcement on Thursday, in fact, there's further strength being forecast, coupled with a significant weakening of the Euro.  This effect, however, is projected to be manageable.  GE, for example, is forecasting only a $0.01 per share impact in 2015 based on currency exchange.

Aviation continues to be a major success story in the US and around the globe. Passenger Kilometers revenue was up 6.1% internationally and 5.3% in the US.  If the price of fuel remains low, this revenue stream will continue to grow.  Airlines should be a strong play at least through the first half of 2015.  GE confirms what Alcoa told us a couple of weeks ago.  Demand is extremely high, and GE experienced aviation orders up 15%.  Equipment orders are up 8%, primarily from commercial engines.  Again, that confirms what Alcoa was seeing for new aircraft orders, and it has me considering a play on B/E Aerospace before they report this week.

Healthcare is another growing segment in the US, up 9%.  There is significant growth in diagnostic equipment orders for CT, Ultrasound, and MR.  Globally, however, the sector is extremely depressed. There were sharp declines in Japan, Russia, and the Middle East.  China is only expected to see modest growth in this sector for 2015.  It looks like the healthcare plays for 2015 are primarily domestic.

Transportation experienced its strongest growth ever in 2014, driven primarily by a surge of locomotive orders in the US.  That has to be great news for the freight industry, so we'll be taking a hard look at Union Pacific's forecast.  (They released earnings on Thursday, so their transcript is available now.)

An interesting item that came out of their lighting department is the report of 72% growth in their LED business.  LED comprised 27% of their revenues in that department, at a time when they saw a sharp decline in demand for traditional lighting products.  This warrants a closer inspection since LEDs are now being used in a wide variety of consumer products.  A surge in demand for LEDs implies very strong demand in consumer discretionaries as well as in technology, at least in the US.

Overall, the outlook from GE is similar to what we're hearing from other global companies.  The US is strong, China moderate, but Europe, Russia, and Japan are economic millstones.  Look to aviation, transportation, and healthcare for some strong growth.  Consumer discretionary may also provide an opportunity based on hints from the lighting market, but that's going to require a closer inspection.