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GE's Unit Partners with AT&T to Enhance Product Portfolio

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Current,a clean energy startup by General Electric Company (GE - Free Report) recently announced its decision to partner with AT&T Inc. (T - Free Report) . Per the deal, AT&T will help General Electric sell internet-connected sensors across cities in the U.S. and Mexico.

AT&T is the largest provider of pay TV in the world. In the U.S, the company combines its broad video footprint with its nationwide mobility service and high-speed internet available across 60 million locations.

Per the deal, General Electric will offer sensor hardware, which will be attached to a city's outdoor LED lights. In addition, the company will also offer Predix, its software platform, which will enable municipal software engineers build useful applications to analyze the data collected by the sensors. AT&T will provide network services to move that data from the sensors to a central repository where it can be analysed.

This system will enable municipal governments access data to better control traffic flow, optimize parking, monitor air quality or detect gunshots.

Current was established in Boston in 2015, several months before General Electric decided to move its headquarters to the region. It merged a couple of the company’s existing lines of business representing about $1 billion in revenues, which include GE's LED, solar, energy storage and electric vehicle businesses.

According to the Boston Business Journal, in January, Current signed its first "smart city" with San Diego making it the first major city to progress in the company’s latest initiative. The city will spend $30 million to install 3,200 connected sensors on streetlight poles and to upgrade a quarter of its lights to more energy efficient LEDs.  

Despite General Electric’s initiatives to strengthen its foothold, it underperformed the Zacks categorized Diversified Operations industry in the last one month owing to macroeconomic challenges and fluctuations in currency exchanges. The company’s average return was 0.4% compared with 3.3% gain of the industry. Although General Electric is taking prudent steps to limit its financial exposure by divesting GE Capital assets, it is still susceptible to various market risks.  

General Electric carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple better-ranked stocks in the industry include Barloworld Limited (BRRAY - Free Report) and Hitachi, Ltd. (HTHIY - Free Report) , both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Barloworld has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 18.70% and is currently trading at a forward P/E of 11.04x.

Hitachi has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13% and is currently trading at a forward P/E of 13.43x.

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