GE HealthCare, Vernova, Aerospace Stocks All Tank on China's Retaliatory Tariffs
Key Takeaways
Shares of the companies spun off from the former industrial icon
General Electric
were all tanking Friday, led by medical device maker GE HealthCare Technologies (
GEHC
), on investor fears that they would be hurt by Beijing’s
retaliatory levies
countering President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Shares of GE HealthCare, energy firm GE Vernova (
GEV
), and GE Aerospace (
GE
), all of which have significant China operations, recently were down nearly 13%, 11%, and 8%, respectively. Of the three, GE HealthCare shares were the hardest hit, reflecting not just the tariffs but also Beijing’s launch of an
anti-dumping
probe into medical CT tubes from the U.S. and India, BTIG analysts wrote Friday.
China comprised about 12% of GE HealthCare’s sales in fiscal year 2024, with around 70% of what it makes in China—including imaging and ultrasound equipment— sold in the country, according to BTIG analysts led by Ryan Zimmerman.
Analysts Maintain 'Buy' Rating on GE HealthCare
"From GEHC's perspective, it may depend on whether the CT tubes are actually imported into China or manufactured in China but it may also depend on whether the Ministry [of Commerce in China] views GEHC and other
multi-national companies
as local," BTIG analysts wrote, sticking with their
"buy" call
on the stock.
In
February
, GE HealthCare said it expected
year-over-year
organic revenue growth of 2% to 3% in 2025, partly reflecting a "measured view of market conditions in China."
General Electric had longstanding operations in China, stemming back to 1906. The industrial giant's
three-way split
into independent publicly traded firms was completed a year ago.