GE Aerospace Revenue Surges on New Orders, Boosting Shares — Update

By Denny Jacob

GE Aerospace posted a surge in quarterly revenue that blew past Wall Street's estimates as the jet-engine maker received an influx of orders to end the year.

The Cincinnati company on Thursday also said it plans to buy back $7 billion worth of stock this year and to boost its dividend by 30%. Shares rallied 8% to $203.36 in premarket trading.

GE Aerospace said its fourth-quarter net earnings came in at about $1.9 billion, or $1.76 a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with $1.59 billion, or $1.46 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, earnings came in at $1.32 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.04 a share. Revenue rose to $10.81 billion from $9.46 billion, ahead of the average analyst forecast for $9.49 billion.

Revenue grew 19% to $7.65 billion year-over-year in its commercial engines-and-services segment. The defense-and-propulsion-technologies segment rose 4% to $2.52 billion.

Chief Executive H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. said the company ended 2024 on a high note amid robust demand for its services and products, with fourth-quarter orders up 46%.

For 2025, GE Aerospace forecast adjusted earnings per share of between $5.10 and $5.45, as well as free cash flow between $6.3 billion and $6.8 billion. Analysts expect $5.23 a share in adjusted earnings.

GE said it returned more than $6 billion to shareholders last year as it announced the $7 billion share-repurchase plan for 2025 and the dividend boost, which are subject to approval by the board.

• Colin Kellaher contributed to this article.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com