General Electric earnings and revenue fall year-on-year

Industrial giant General Electric saw a fall in profits and revenue during the final quarter of 2016, but reached analysts' expectations for its earnings per share.

Shares in the company were slightly lower at $30.91 during pre-market trading following the release of its Q4 numbers.

Earnings per share were 46 cents, on revenue of $33.08bn, with analysts having expected 46 cents per share on revenue of $33.63bn.

In comparison with the same period in 2015 however, GE's revenue and profits fell. In the final quarter of that year revenue came in at $33.89bn, with $0.52 per share earned.

Industrial stocks have made strong gains since the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, with investors believing his policies to be healthy for the sector.

"We executed on our 2016 goals and continued to drive growth across our businesses through the GE Store while investing in additive manufacturing and digital technology," Jeff Immelt, General Electric CEO said in a statement.

"We delivered $1.49 of earnings per share this year and 1 percent of organic growth. We reported $32.6 billion of free cash flow and dispositions and returned $30.5 billion to shareowners through dividends and buyback."