Just one-and-a-half months ago, shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE) touched a 52-week high as investors continued to gain confidence in the company's turnaround. 2019 was hardly a great year for the industrial conglomerate, as industrial free cash flow fell by nearly 50% year over year to $2.3 billion. However, that result was far better than the cash burn of up to $2 billion that management had predicted at the beginning of last year. Moreover, GE predicted that cash flow would start to improve in 2020, with further gains over the next couple of years.
Unfortunately, the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic has undermined this sunny outlook. GE stock lost more than half of its value between mid-February and mid-March. While it recovered a bit last week, GE shares still ended the week down more than 40% from their recent high.