GE Aerospace Beats Estimates but Shares Slip as Costs Rise and Insurance Unit Turns Loss

General Electric’s aerospace arm announced its third‑quarter numbers on Tuesday, and on paper the results look pretty encouraging. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.25, comfortably above the $2.01 consensus, while revenue hit $13.3 billion, edging past Wall Street’s $12.88 billion forecast.

Orders were the star of the show, jumping 49% to $19 billion, and commercial services revenue rose 23% year‑over‑year. That kind of top‑line momentum, CEO H. Lawrence Culp Jr. told investors, is exactly what the company is “building” on – a phrase he repeated a few times, maybe for emphasis, maybe just out of habit.

Buoyed by the strong quarter, GE lifted its 2026 outlook. Adjusted EPS is now projected between $8.00 and $8.10, up from the prior $7.65‑$7.85 range. Operating profit guidance nudged higher to $10.9‑$11.0 billion and free cash flow expectations rose to $9.1‑$9.4 billion.

Looking further ahead, the firm said it expects commercial‑services revenue to grow at a low‑double‑digit pace in 2027, supported by a hefty backlog that sits above $170 billion.

So why did the stock dip? A few under‑the‑radar factors softened the market’s enthusiasm. Discounts and allowances swelled by $1.56 billion, mainly because of larger concessions on new‑engine installations and spare‑parts sales, plus higher durability reserves for commercial engines. Those pressures knocked margins in the engine‑services business down by ten basis points.

Free cash flow, which had been a bright spot, slipped 14% to $2.0 billion. And perhaps the biggest surprise was the insurance division, which swung to a $210 million pretax loss after posting a $363 million profit just a year earlier. The company warned that lingering supply‑chain bottlenecks and stubborn inflation would keep the cost side of the business uneasy for a while.

Retail traders on Stocktwits seemed a bit split. Over the past day the sentiment nudged from “bullish” to “extremely bullish,” a sign that many still see the earnings beat as a positive signal, even if the market’s immediate reaction was muted.

All told, GE’s shares were about 1.7% lower in pre‑market trading on Tuesday, adding to a roughly 3% year‑to‑date decline. Investors will be watching whether the company can translate the headline‑grabbing order growth into sustained profitability, especially as cost pressures linger.