Now the question is what's next. GE's recent performance is part of the reason for that robust share price. The company's superb businesses are enjoying greater order demand. Energy deregulation is helping sales of GE turbines, and through NBC the company is dabbling in the Internet. That shouldn't be a surprise.
Most investors believe that splits are bullish.
There's no mathematical basis for that, of course. There's also a theory that splits make a round lot of 100 shares easier to buy, which increases demand for a stock and helps push up its share price. Employees who receive company stock in retirement plans and participants in dividend reinvestment plans don't have to worry either, because they can buy fractional shares. There's a final argument, though. Companies hate to split a stock and then watch it go down.