GE Aerospace, the jet-engine maker behind many of the world's passenger planes, delivered just about everything investors usually cheer on Tuesday, Oct. 20: a profit beat, a revenue beat, surging orders and a higher full-year forecast. The stock fell anyway.
Shares closed at $299.87, down $11.41, or about 3.7%, according to The Motley Fool. For investors, the day was a useful lesson in how Wall Street grades earnings: the headline numbers matter, but so do cash flow, costs and how much good news was already baked into the price.
What did GE Aerospace report for the third quarter?
GE Aerospace earned an adjusted $2.25 a share in the third quarter, up 36% from a year earlier and above the roughly $2.00 analysts expected. Revenue rose 16% to about $14.1 billion, orders jumped 49% to $19 billion, and the company raised its 2026 profit outlook. Yet the stock closed down about 3.7% on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Adjusted revenue, which strips out some one-time items, came in near $13.3 billion, up 18% and ahead of the roughly $12.85 billion analysts had forecast. Adjusted operating profit climbed 30% to about $3 billion, and the adjusted operating margin widened by 2.2 percentage points to 22.5%, Benzinga reported.
The biggest business, Commercial Engines and Services, which sells and repairs engines for airlines, grew revenue 21% to about $10.3 billion. The defense and propulsion unit grew revenue 7% to about $3.5 billion. The company also bought back $2 billion of its own stock during the quarter.
CEO Larry Culp credited teamwork with suppliers. "Thanks to the collaboration of the GE Aerospace team with our supplier partners we continue to build momentum," he said, as quoted by 24/7 Wall St..
How much did GE Aerospace raise its 2026 forecast?
This was the company's second guidance raise of the year. GE Aerospace now expects 2026 adjusted earnings of $8.00 to $8.10 a share, up from $7.65 to $7.85 before. It also expects adjusted revenue growth of about 19% to 20%, up from a prior call for growth in the "high teens,"…
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$17,175
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$13,000
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Kiara Miller — Founder & Editor
Kiara Miller is the founder and editor of The Evergreen Edit. He has been doing independent finance research for two decades and reviews every article before it's published.
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