Investors should load up on General Electric heading into 2023, according to Oppenheimer. Analyst Christopher Glynn upgraded the industrial giant to outperform from perform, saying several factors are boosting confidence in the stock next year, including a planned spinoff of its health care division and strong momentum for its aviation business. “Our Outperform rating reflects strong Aviation momentum along industry recovery path, with strong execution amidst widespread industry supply-chain challenges impacting the commercial business and internal production challenges serving military markets,” Glynn wrote in a Monday note. General Electric is planning to split into three separate public companies by early 2024, separated into GE Aerospace, GE HealthCare and GE Vernova . The analyst noted that the health care division was recently showing improving profitability. Meanwhile, its aviation business — which would fall under GE Aerospace — is set for a strong improvement in 2023, while its energy and power business is also showing signs of a turnaround, according to the note. “At Power, consistent and broad-based profitability improvement affirms intact turnaround trajectory/runway, even if mediocre absolute profitability as yet (6.3%/+200 bps ’22E EBIT margin, best since 2016 before erstwhile operating/governance implosion; runway to ~10%, maybe slightly better),” Glynn wrote. General Electric has performed better than the S & P 500 this year, down just 10% compared to the 17% fall in the broader market index. The analyst’s $104 price target implies roughly 23% upside from Monday’s closing price. Shares are up 1.5% in Tuesday premarket trading. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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