Long a bellwether for the U.S. economy, General Electric is now ringing alarm bells for investors.
Despite taking steps to bolster finance arm GE Capital, the conglomerate has seen its stock slump and the cost of protecting against a default on its debt soar. Investors fear large losses lurk on GE Capital's $637 billion balance sheet, particularly on assets such as commercial real estate and loans in Eastern Europe.
In the face of such doubts, GE on Wednesday said it can weather the economic slump. It believes that loss-reserves are sufficient and that GE Capital's earnings, along with deleveraging and cutting the dividend, will help the finance business through a rough patch. The hope is that will avoid the need for more radical steps, such as raising fresh equity or splitting the group
There are two risks with this approach. One is that losses could mount faster than GE Capital can handle with its existing capital. Another is that the continuing need to calm fears about GE Capital could require a diversion of funds from the industrial business at a time when it could be buying distressed assets and winning market share.
Clearly, much depends on how much equity is needed at GE Capital, which isn't a regulated bank but a wholesale finance company, dependent on market funding. This unnerves investors because they can't easily compare GE Capital with regular banks. True, the unit's tangible-common-equity ratio of 5.3% looks reasonable alongside banks. However, on another important capital ratio -- the Tier 1 measure -- GE Capital may be less well positioned.
Unlike banks, GE Capital doesn't disclose a Tier 1 ratio. Large banks are in the region of 9%. To get to that level, GE Capital might need as much as an extra $25 billion of capital, estimates Richard Hofmann at CreditSights.
Normally, GE would be able to fill any capital hole with equity raised from private investors. But turning to them in the current turmoil looks tough.
Therefore, should the need arise, the government might be persuaded to inject capital, especially since GE securities are so widely held. That wouldn't be straightforward, however, because bank regulators don't have formal oversight of the vast majority of GE Capital's business.
Theoretically, the unit could be spun off as a stand-alone bank-holding company. One potential problem: An independent GE Capital might need a lot more equity to convince investors that it can make it comfortably through the cycle.
The idea of the U.S. government owning a stake in any part of GE might seem outlandish. But if GE Capital had been a stand-alone bank going into this crisis, the government would almost certainly have plowed Troubled Asset Relief Program dollars into it already.
Granted, GE as a group has more room for maneuvering than a straightforward financial company. It has hard assets it can sell as well as relatively dependable cash flows from its industrial businesses. Shareholders are losing patience. One radical option could yet be a solution that unyokes the sturdier industrial operations from GE Capital's balance sheet.