GE Becoming An Oil And Gas Company?

Of course not, but things are certainly changing at GE.

Bloomberg is reporting:

GE's decision to hand control of the rapidly growing oil and gas division to Lorenzo Simonelli is fueling speculation that its youngest top executive is a leading candidate to someday run the company.

Simonelli, 40, will assume control on Oct. 1 of a business that’s seen annual sales climb 54 percent since 2008 and has become a primary focus of GE’s acquisition strategy. He takes over for Dan Heintzelman, who was elevated to vice chairman after running the unit since 2011, GE said today in a statement.

“If Simonelli is able to take the franchise Heintzelman created and take it to the next level, he’s obviously going to be in an excellent position,” Nick Heymann, a William Blair & Co. analyst in New York, said today in a telephone interview. He has a market-perform rating on GE. “The Oil & Gas platform has the telltale signs of being the next chief vehicle of value creation on the industrial side.”

Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt, 57, is putting the oil and gas division at the forefront of his push to increase earnings at GE’s industrial businesses while shrinking its lending arm. It’s grown faster than any other unit since financial markets froze in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy in 2008.

So much for wind and solar.