General Electric is a complex beast.

It makes everything from jet engines and gas turbines toe Marie machines.

But one number that investors watch closely is how much free cash its industrial divisions spin off.

On Tuesday, as he reported the company's fourth quarter earnings, chief executive Larry Culp said that this year that number could hit $4.5 billion.

Now, to put that into perspective, that's what G was making in 2018.

Only now it's got around 27,000 fewer employees on about $30 billion less debt.

Investors liked what they heard on the shares popped by as much as 11%.

Now, can cult hit that number?

Well, that depends on the airlines that fly using jet engines More than a quarter of gigs Fleet is currently grounded in that number hasn't really changed since October.

So if you want to believe that she is going to hit that 4.5 billion, you also need to believe that Cove in 19 is going to abate and planes will once again take to the sky What we can say is that Culp is pretty, well incentivized to do what he says.

Let him re negotiate his sign on bonus in August, reducing the share price at which he gets rewarded.

Now the shares have already doubles toe almost $12 since then.

If they go a couple of dollars higher and stay there, he could be eligible for a payout of more than $120 million.

That is a pretty powerful incentive to keep the good news coming.