GE Aerospace was long considered one of the crown jewels inside of the General Electric conglomerate. Now independent, the company is demonstrating to investors what it is capable of. GE earned $1.32 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $10.8 billion, easily surpassing Wall Street's consensus $1.04 per share on $9.5 billion estimates.

Shares of GE Aerospace surged toward an 18-year high early Thursday after fourth-quarter profit and revenue beat expectations by healthy margins, fueled by strength in the commercial engines business.