For the second straight quarter, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) was able to exceed low market expectations and deliver a well-received quarterly earnings report. Although GE still has a long way to go before it's on the right path, analysts are seeing early signs of steps in the right direction.

GE stock shot up more than 5 percent in pre-market trading.

General Electric reported adjusted first-quarter earnings per share of 16 cents on revenue of $28.6 billion. Both numbers beat expectations of 12 cents and $27.52 billion, respectively. Revenue was up 7 percent compared to a year ago.

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GE also reiterated its previous guidance of 2018 EPS of between $1 and $1.07. While the potential for just $1 in earnings from GE in 2018 doesn't exactly make the stock seem like a great value, investors cheered the fact that, for now at least, guidance seems to have stabilized after multiple cuts in the past year. The stock's 16.6 percent decline in the past three months suggests the market had been pricing in further guidance cuts.

"The first quarter is a step forward in executing on our 2018 plan and we are seeing signs of progress in our performance," CEO John Flannery says in a statement.

GE stock plummeted from above $30 per share in early 2017 to below $13 per share in early 2018, its lowest levels since 2011. In addition to guidance cuts, GE investors have suffered through credit rating downgrades, a dividend cut, an SEC investigation, a $6.2 billion charge related to GE Capital's legacy insurance business and a restatement of 2016 and 2017 earnings based on new accounting standards.

The financial picture at GE is messy these days to say the least, and BK Asset Management manager of forex strategy Boris Schlossberg said this week that GE's restructuring makes it difficult to judge the stock's long-term value.

"GE's current cash flow projections, a massive debt load of $90 billion-plus and a now-lower dividend put fair valuation on the stock closer to $10 per share, versus its current price of around $13.69," Schlossberg says.

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However, he says that most of the bad news may already be priced into the stock, and GE could have a major long-term growth opportunity in emerging market infrastructure.

"The rate in emerging markets could far outpace the developed world, so investors who are willing to sit through short-term pain could see the stock double in the next decade if Africa becomes the next place to industrialize," Schlossberg says.

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