Financial Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of General Electric(GE Quote) rose sharply on Thursday on much heavier than normal volume.
The stock was tacking on 5.5% in recent trades to $16.30. About 166 million shares have changed hands, more than double the issue's average trailing three-month volume of 76 million, and good for third most-active issue on the New York Stock Exchange, behind Citigroup(C Quote), which has been tear of late, and Bank of America, which was the recipient of an upgrade from Credit Suisse before the opening bell.
The rise made GE the top percentage gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was slightly higher in late afternoon action ahead of Friday's eagerly anticipated nonfarm payrolls report.
It wasn't completely clear what was driving the buying interest as the stock didn't take off until around midday. JPMorgan raised its price target on the stock before the open to $22 from $20 as part of a wider call on a number of industrial companies, including a downgrade of fellow Dow component 3M(MMM Quote). The firm already had an overweight rating on the shares, but did say its top picks for 2010 were General Electric, Rockwell Automation(ROK Quote), and Watsco Inc.(WSO Quote).
JPMorgan also singled out General Electric for praise, though, saying the stock was its favorite of those three, and that the stock "does not reflect the earnings leverage at GE Capital."
On the corporate news front, there was an announcement by the company's GE Transportation unit of an order for 50 locomotives from Cosan for deployment in Brazil. A Dow Jones report put the value of the order at $130 million. Dow Jones also cited a report from Morgan Stanley about the state of the commercial real estate market as a contributing factor for the rise in the stock, but the note doesn't specifically pertain to General Electric.
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