The company had enjoyed broad trust from investors for years, winning plaudits for its investor relations and special notice from one trade publication in the 1990s for being “shareholder-oriented.” Through that period, GE didn’t even hold conference calls to discuss quarterly results, as competitors did. Its earnings releases were typically short and light on detail. If anything, GE tended to leave investors with questions about how the company had hit its numbers. But the performance of the stock left little room for complaints.
