GE Vernova shares jump on guidance upgrade after strong Q1

(Sharecast News) - Shares in GE Vernova raced ahead in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the US power generation equipment group raised its full-year guidance on the back of a huge jump in orders during the first quarter. The company, which was formed when General Electric broke split in 2024, said orders had grown 71% year-on-year in organic terms to $18.3bn, while the order backlog grew by $13.0bn sequentially, including $5bn from its Mexican transformer manufacturing subsidiary Prolec GE.

First-quarter revenues totalled $9.34bn, up 16% over last year and 7% ahead organically, led by equipment sales in the Electrification and Power divisions. The consensus forecast was $9.25bn.

Net income swelled to $4.75bn from just $264m the year before, also topping market expectations.

"We had a solid start to 2026 as we continue to serve the growing, long-cycle electric power market. Demand is accelerating for our Power and Electrification solutions from a diverse set of customers, with our backlog growing by more than $13 billion quarter-over-quarter," said chief executive Scott Strazik.

"Reflecting this strength, we now expect to reach at least 110 GW of combined gas turbine backlog and slot reservation agreements by year-end 2026 and are raising our 2026 financial guidance."

The firm now expects revenues of $44.5bn-45.5bn, some $500m ahead of previous guidance, while the adjusted EBITDA margin range was raised by 1 percentage point to 12-14%.

Stock futures were up 7.7% at $1,067.10 by 1410 BST.