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Why 'no one's asking about' GE stock

General Electric’s (GE) better-than-expected first-quarter results could paint a better future for the once-mighty conglomerate, but first it has to get past a growing perception that its stock isn’t even worth talking about.

S&P Global’s Erin Gibbs tells Yahoo Finance that among her clients, “no one’s asking about” GE. They’re staying on the sidelines.

“We don’t have it in our portfolios,” Gibbs told Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi on The First Trade. “It’s very much wait and see for us until you really start seeing momentum, seeing their new management initiatives come through, and start seeing them come back to growth.”

Both earnings and revenue beat expectaions last quarter. GE shares traded as high as $10.53 on Tuesday, up 8% for the day before closing at $10.17.

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Even GE is calling 2019 a “reset year,” and is sticking to its previously given forecast. Even CEO Larry Culp is expressing caution that results going forward could not be as rosy.

"One quarter is a data point not a trend,” Culp said on a conference call with analysts.

The General Electric logo appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
General Electric logo appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In the company’s earnings statement, Culp said the Q1 results were “largely driven by timing of certain items, which should balance out over the course of the year.”

Former floor trader Stephen Guilfoyle has been buying far-dated options so he can capitalize on GE in the future.

“I think Larry Culp is the right guy for that job,” he tells Yahoo Finance. “I wouldn’t want that job.”