GE Posts 48% Rise in Earnings for Q3

General Electric Co. on Friday reported a 48% year-on-year rise in third-quarter net earnings to $3.27 billion, on revenues of $35.4 billion.

Net earnings per share were up 22%, from 18 cents a year earlier to 22 cents.

GE said that excluding the effects of a $3.3 billion buyback of Berkshire Hathaway's preferred shares during the quarter -- which earn particularly high dividends -- earnings per share were 31% higher.

"We are pleased to deliver our sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit operating-earnings growth in a volatile macro environment," CEO Jeff Immelt said in a news release.

"We ended the quarter with a record-high order backlog of $191 billion and we remain confident in our full-year 2011 operating framework."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011