GE vs Si ( General electric vs Siemenes) stock wise, to buy?

Question

Should I buy General electric or siemenes? GE has a greater dividend and has gained more growth than siemenes over 1995-2004. Although siemens 52 week high is over $50.00 than the price it is at right now. ( GE's 52 week high is about $10 higher than the price right now.

Would you buy GE or Siemens, Im LOOKing to hold them for at least over a year

Answer 1

They are both OK. GE has a good dividend. SI probably has more growth potential. Neither is very attractive to me.

I would recommend checking out ABB, MDR, and JST if you're interested in energy infrastructure.

Also check out TEX for an undervalued construction equipment company.

RSTI is an industrial on sale.

Answer 2

Before you buy GE, read today's (6/22/2008)  New York Times Business section page 2.  Nelson D. Schwartz's column "Market Maker."   The appliance business is finally being sold.  NBC Universal isn't that great a business.  Maybe after the Bejing Olympics it too may be for sale.  I would would wait until then to buy.  If the gasoline prices stay high, Amtrack and commuter railroads will be doing a lot more business and will need GE's locomotives.  Airlines don't need GE's jet engines so much anymore unless they can find the money to trade in their old planes for Boeing's 787.  GE's wind turbine business is good.

Siemens is also mentioned in the same newspaper (www.nytimes.com), page 6  in the "For Overseas Shares, The Sure Bet Is Over" story.  They have had trouble but are revamping.  Trouble is as the story says "...many people view...(Siemens) as serial revampers, continually overhauling their activities but never quite getting the job done.

I have also looked at both companies and liked and disliked what I saw.  I decided to diversify my industrial "bet" by buying Sector SPDR Industrial ETF, symbol XLI.

Answer 3

First, GE is steadily marching downward. If you are keeping them for a year or more, then the nice dividend will take some of the sting out of the shrinking market value of your holdings. It is a solidly diversified, solidly profitable technology company and well worth watching. You might consider parking some money to catch it when it slows or starts to turn around.

Second, Siemens (SI) is similarly flopping at the bottom of an even more precipitous fall (I can't tell you how disturbed I would have been in early January and mid March if I was in, and I wasn't, this stock).  

The financials, meanwhile, show some very good things for SI, like increasing revenue and gross profits, but things get a bit murkier as you dig a bit deeper. Similar points could be made for GE, profits but complications.

I know you can't make a decision on the PE, but considering the enormous profits and that this enormous company can turn such a good profit when we are supposedly stumbling through a recession makes me think that GE (PE 12.8) is a better dollar for dollar worth than SI (PE 21). Think of this way, if company G and company S both made a dollar, considering the relative price of these companies, G is going to cost a premium of 13 to a premium of 21 for S.

Both are good companies, so if you can't (or won't) buy a bit of both, I think you will find more bang for your investing buck with GE. Considering the technicals, however, your stake is a good deal safer in the short run with SI.