GE Aerospace (GE): orders jump 49% to $19.0bn and the 2026 profit forecast is raised
GE Aerospace, the US maker of jet engines, reported third-quarter orders of $19.0bn, up 49% on a year ago, and adjusted profit of $2.25 per share, up 36%. It raised its 2026 forecasts for sales, profit and cash flow. Cash generated in the quarter fell 14%.
What happened
On 20 October 2026 GE Aerospace published results for the three months to 30 September. The company builds and services jet engines, which it sells to aircraft makers and airlines and, through its Defense & Propulsion Technologies division, to governments. Its largest division, Commercial Engines & Services, received orders worth $15.3bn, up 58%, with orders for services (repairs, spare parts and maintenance on engines already flying) up 23% and orders for new equipment more than tripling. Total company orders were $19.0bn, against $16.5bn in the second quarter.
The company raised every one of its full-year 2026 forecasts. Adjusted sales growth is now expected at about 19% to 20% (previously "high-teens"), operating profit at $10.9bn to $11.0bn (previously $10.55bn to $10.75bn), adjusted profit per share at $8.00 to $8.10 (previously $7.65 to $7.85) and free cash flow, the cash left after running costs and spending on equipment, at $9.1bn to $9.4bn (previously $8.9bn to $9.2bn). These are the company's own forecasts, not ours. Chief executive Lawrence Culp also said GE now expects commercial services to grow at a low double-digit rate in 2027, supported by a services backlog of over $170bn.
The numbers, explained
Start with sales. GE reports "adjusted revenue", which removes sales from its insurance business that is being wound down. Adjusted revenue was $13,285m against $11,305m a year earlier, a rise of $1,980m, or 17.5% (the company rounds this to 18%). Total reported (GAAP, the standard accounting measure) revenue was $14,118m, which includes $833m of insurance revenue. Operating profit, the profit from running the businesses before interest and tax, was $2,988m against $2,299m, up 30.0%. As a share of adjusted sales, that is 22.5% against 20.3%: the company kept about 22.5 cents of each sales dollar as operating profit, up from about 20.3 cents.
Adjusted profit per share, which removes items such as gains on investments and the insurance run-off, was $2.25 against $1.66, a rise of $0.59 or 35.5%. Reported profit per share from continuing operations was $2.32 against $2.04, up 14%, on net income of $2,412m against $2,170m. Investing.com reported that analysts had expected adjusted profit of $2.00 per share and sales of about $12.85bn, so the result was $0.25 (12.5%) above the profit estimate and about $0.44bn (3.4%) above the sales estimate. Against the second quarter's adjusted $2.02, the figure is $0.23 higher, up 11.4%. Part of the gap between adjusted and reported profit is an insurance pre-tax loss of $210m, against $363m of income a year ago.
Cash was the weaker part. Free cash flow was $2,042m against $2,362m, down 13.5% (the company rounds to 14%), and cash from operations was $2,203m against $2,556m, down 13.8%. Over nine months the picture is better: free cash flow was $6,728m against $5,933m, up 13%, and adjusted profit per share was $6.13 against $4.80, up 28%. The new profit forecast of $8.00 to $8.10 therefore implies fourth-quarter adjusted profit of roughly $1.87 to $1.97 per share ($8.00 less $6.13, and $8.10 less $6.13); that is our arithmetic from the company's forecast, not a company figure.
Why it matters
GE Aerospace makes money in two ways. It sells new engines, often at thin margins, and it earns higher margins over the following decades by repairing and supplying parts for those engines. In Commercial Engines & Services, revenue rose 21% to $10,342m and operating profit rose 21% to $2,887m, a margin of 27.9%, essentially unchanged from 28.0% a year ago. Services revenue grew 17% and spare parts sales grew more than 20%. The very large jump in equipment orders matters because each new engine adds to the base of engines that will later need servicing.
For airlines and aircraft makers, the figures show continued demand for new engines and heavy use of those already in service. For the wider sector, the split matters: Defense & Propulsion Technologies grew more slowly, with revenue up 6.7% to $3,469m and operating profit up 8.0% to $475m, a margin of 13.7% against 13.5%. The release does not quantify any tariff effect, and lists tariffs and trade tensions only as a risk. Investing.com reported that shares were lower in premarket trading despite the results, so strong numbers did not by themselves move the share price up.
What to watch next
GE Aerospace has not, in the documents we read, given a date for its fourth-quarter results; those will show the final 2026 numbers against the raised forecasts, including adjusted profit per share of $8.00 to $8.10 and free cash flow of $9.1bn to $9.4bn. The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) filed with the SEC should give further detail on cash flow and on the insurance run-off. Checkable points are whether full-year free cash flow lands inside the forecast and whether the services backlog stays above $170bn.
- Adjusted figures: results with items such as the insurance run-off and investment gains taken out
- Services: repairs, spare parts and maintenance on engines already in use
- Free cash flow: operating cash flow less capital spending
- Backlog: the value of orders received but not yet delivered
Sources
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