GE’s improving cash outlook signals new traction for turnaround

General Electric Co. signaled renewed progress for CEO Larry Culp’s turnaround effort with a cash-flow outlook that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. Industrial free cash flow will be $2.5b to $4.5b this year, GE said in an earnings statement Tuesday. The midpoint of the range handily exceeded the $2.57b average of analyst estimates for the closely watched metric. GE also resumed providing an earnings forecast -- a sign that the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to abate. The outlook provides a new boost for Culp’s drive to rescue the maker of aircraft engines, power turbines and medical scanners from an epic corporate collapse. While the pandemic upended that effort early last year, GE came roaring back in Q4 to generate $4.4b in industrial free cash flow, smashing analyst estimates and more than offsetting the cash burned during the first nine months of the year. “Momentum is broadening and deepening across the company,” Culp said. “We have as much conviction as we ever have relative to those aspirational targets of high single-digit free cash yields at GE,” he said, referring to the cash-flow margins that the company has set as a longer-term target.<br/>