GE HealthCare Technologies (GEHC) Q4 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Orders and backlog reached record highs in Q4 2024, with strong U.S. demand and book-to-bill ratio of 1.09x; over 50 enterprise deals closed globally, including a $1B, 7-year alliance with Sutter Health, and total large deals now exceed $5B.

• Revenue grew 2% in Q4 and 1% for the full year, driven by advanced visualization and pharmaceutical diagnostics, with robust margin and EPS expansion.

• Launched ~40 innovations in 2024, with new products contributing ~50% of revenue and 85 AI-enabled FDA authorizations; recognized for commercial execution and named to Fortune World's Most Admired Companies 2025.

• U.S. market remains strong, with customers planning incremental imaging investments; China showed slight improvement in orders but remains a headwind.

• Closed acquisitions of MIM Software and Intelligent Ultrasound; announced planned acquisition of NMP/Nihon Medi-Physics for radiopharmaceuticals in Asia.

Financial highlights

• Q4 2024 revenues: $5.3B, organic growth 2%; full year: $19.7B, organic growth 1%.

• Q4 adjusted EBIT margin: 18.7% (+260 bps YoY); adjusted EPS: $1.45 (+23% YoY); full year adjusted EBIT margin: 16.3% (+120 bps YoY); adjusted EPS: $4.49 (+14% YoY).

• Free cash flow: $811M in Q4 (down $145M YoY); $1.6B for 2024 (down $161M YoY), with 75% free cash flow conversion.

• Book-to-bill ratio: 1.09x in Q4 (record high); 1.05x for full year; organic orders up 6% in Q4 and 3% for the year.

• R&D investment: $1.3B in 2024 (~6.7% of sales), up from $1.2B in 2023.

Outlook and guidance

• 2025 organic revenue growth expected at 2–3%, with a 1.5% FX headwind and continued China softness.

• Adjusted EBIT margin guidance: 16.7–16.8% (+40–50 bps YoY); adjusted EPS: $4.61–$4.75 (+3–6% YoY); adjusted effective tax rate: 22–23%.

• Free cash flow expected at least $1.75B for 2025.

• China sales expected negative in H1 2025, with sequential improvement in H2; overall low single-digit decline for the year.

• Q1 2025: organic revenue growth 1–2% YoY, flat adjusted EBIT margin and EPS.