General Electric shares gain the most in a month on Thursday, a majority stake in ServiceMax to be sold to Silver Lake

According to an announcement by General Electric Company (GE) on Thursday, its digital unit intends to sell a majority stake held in ServiceMax to Silver Lake, a technology-oriented private equity company.

The deal is expected to be finalized in early 2019. However, no financial details of the agreement were disclosed.

General Electric shares closed higher for the fifth time in the past twelve trading sessions in New York on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since November 13th. The stock went up 7.30% ($0.49) to $7.20, after touching an intraday high at $7.50, or a price level not seen since December 4th ($7.81).

Shares of General Electric Company have retreated 58.74% so far in 2018 compared with a 0.86% drop for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, General Electric’s stock plummeted 44.78%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

According to Silver Lake, ServiceMax, as a separate entity, would be able to explore new strategic partnerships.

Morgan Stanley & Co LLC advised Silver Lake on financial aspects of the deal, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP was the firms legal adviser.

General Electric acquired ServiceMax two years ago in a deal valued at $915 million. The industrial conglomerate said it would retain a 10% stake in ServiceMax.

According to CNN Money, the 18 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding General Electric’s stock price, have a median target of $11.00, with a high estimate of $21.00 and a low estimate of $6.00. The median estimate represents a 52.78% upside compared to the closing price of $7.20 on December 13th.

The same media also reported that 11 out of 22 surveyed investment analysts had rated General Electric’s stock as “Hold”, while 8 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for General Electric Company (GE) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $7.32
R1 – $7.64
R2 – $8.28
R3 – $8.60
R4 – $8.93

S1 – $6.68
S2 – $6.36
S3 – $5.72
S4 – $5.09