General Electric Company (GE) is scheduled to report results of its third fiscal quarter before the market opens on Friday, October 20, with a conference call scheduled for 8:30 am ET. What to watch for: 1. GUIDANCE: On July 21, GE reported its second quarter results and reaffirmed its fiscal 2017 earnings per share guidance of $1.60-$1.70, against consensus estimates of $1.62 at that time. GE also announced organic growth expectations of 3%-5% in FY17. 2. CEO TRANSITION: On August 1, John Flannery took the reins of the company from retiring chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt. Immelt was originally supposed to retire as chairman of the boards of GE and Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), on December 1, but the company announced on October 2 that Immelt had retired from his positions on both boards, citing Immelt’s determination that the CEO transition has proceeded smoothly and that CEO, director and chair-elect, John Flannery was ready to succeed Immelt as chairman of the board. The Baker Hughes board elected Lorenzo Simonelli as chairman of its board. 3. OTHER MANAGEMENT CHANGES: On October 6, GE announced that CFO Jeffrey Bornstein will depart the company on December 31 and Jamie Miller, CEO of GE Transportation, has been named CFO. Concurrently, the company announced the retirements of vice chairs John Rice and Beth Comstock, effective December 31. On October 9, GE announced that Robert Lane is retiring from the GE board, effective on that date. GE’s board also elected Ed Garden, Chief Investment Officer and a founding partner of Trian Fund Management, to replace Lane on the board, also effective as of October 9. COST CUTTING: On October 18, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that CEO John Flannery is planning to cut some previous luxuries the company provided and employee cuts are impending as well. On October 5, CNBC, citing a source, reported that Flannery has eliminated corporate cars for senior management.