Nelson Peltz is going “all-in” on GE.
Peltz is one of the founding members of Trian Fund Management. That’s one of the largest hedge funds with over $12 billion in assets under management.
On Monday, the billionaire said his fund bought a $2.5 billion stake in General Electric (GE). That makes him a top 10 investor in the industrial giant.
Peltz believes GE has huge upside potential. He expects the company to continue selling off its financial assets, cut costs and focus more on selling jet engines and wind turbines.
GE popped higher on the news. It’s now trading close to its 52-week high.
But the stock still has huge long-term upside for investors. In fact, the big move in this “new” industrial giant is just getting started.
Let me explain …
In February, I told investors:
“If you’re hungry for dividends and growth, consider industrial giant GE. It pays a 3.7% yield and is also the biggest player in the $30 trillion Industrial Internet megatrend.
The Industrial Internet is the placing of GPS sensors and wireless modules on billions of machines. This includes jet engines, wind turbines and medical equipment …
In other words, products that GE manufactures.
These sensors send millions of data points to supercomputers. This data is then analyzed using special software (Big Data analytics) to help predict the future.
Soon, entire fleets of airplanes and trucks will send and receive data to help ensure they run smoothly. Factory machines will send out alerts before breaking down, reducing maintenance costs and downtime.
GE predicts the Industrial Internet could benefit sectors accounting for more than $30 trillion in economic activity. And the company plans on being the biggest player in this megatrend.
I’m sure Peltz is familiar with the Industrial Internet. He’s met with over 100 of GE’s executives over the past two years.
Moreover, Peltz is also a huge fan of GE’s new strategy.
As I explained in April, GE is selling its financial services arm and other non-core businesses. These asset sales have already generated more than $100 billion. Management believes the remaining financial assets could bring in at least another $100 billion.
GE said it will return more than $90 billion of this cash to investors (in dividends and buybacks) over the next four years. To put this in perspective, that amounts to the entire market cap of McDonald’s (MCD).
By 2018, GE expects to generate 90% of its profits from industrial operations. That compares to 55% in 2013. This means GE will be a pure play on the multitrillion-dollar Industrial Internet megatrend.
GE is a dirt-cheap stock. The company also pays a huge dividend (3.6%) and finally has a growth strategy that will likely generate huge profits for many years. That’s why I expect more influential fund managers to build positions in GE over the next six to 12 months.
My suggestion is to buy GE at these levels and hold on for at least the next five to 10 years. And be sure to compound the dividends and capital gains.
Based on my analysis, the company should easily outperform the markets during this time frame.
