*By Carlo Versano* General Electric, the once mighty conglomerate that traces its roots back to the invention of the light bulb, delivered a hugely disappointing earnings report Tuesday morning, in which the company that was once known for its steady and generous payouts to investors slashed its quarterly dividend to just a penny. Jim Corridore, senior equity strategist at CFRA Research, called the dividend cut a "bold" and "necessary" measure that will free up cash flow and give the company some breathing room as it embarks on a root-and-branch restructuring. "It had to happen," he said. Earnings per share were an adjusted 14 cents, compared to estimates of 20 cents. That miss sent shares to the their lowest level since the depths of the recession in 2009. The earnings report was the first under new CEO Larry Culp, who was brought in a month ago to help turn around the industrial giant. On a call with investors Friday, he said: "Our results are far from our full potential." He added: "We will heighten our sense of urgency and increase accountability across the organization to deliver better results." Corridore is a believer in Culp's long-term ability to reinvigorate the stock. "He knows how to run an industrial company," the analyst said. And GE ($GE) has "a lot of good things to work with." GE made some indications of how it would restructure under Culp, announcing it would split its struggling power business into two separate units. Fixing the problems at that business is the "number one thing that GE needs to do," according to Corridore. It follows plans to spin off GE Healthcare into a separate company and the unwinding of its beleaguered financial-services arm in order to focus on jet turbines and renewable energy. Aviation has been a particularly strong unit of GE's business, with orders up 35 percent year-over-year, according to the earnings announcement. Adding to the third quarter woes was a $23 billion loss on an accounting charge stemming from previous power-related acquisitions. GE CFO Jamie Miller said the SEC was investigating that charge as part of its probe into the company's accounting practices. Corridore predicted the efforts of the turnaround could begin to show themselves in six months to a year. Earlier this year, GE was booted off the Dow Industrial average, which it had been a part of since 1907. At its peak, the company had a market cap of more than $600 billion. Today, it's about $97 billion
