What happened General Electric (NYSE: GE) stock is on a tear, rising 6.2% through 10 a.m. EST Tuesday and hitting its highest price since early March. Investors who own this industrial bellwether can thank the friendly analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. for the gains. This morning, Oppenheimer upgraded General Electric stock to outperform and set a $12 price target on the (formerly) $10 stock. Image source: Getty Images. So what As Oppenheimer explained, GE's sale of its biopharma division to Danaher earlier this year, which netted a $20 billion purchase price, has greatly improved GE's financial position. Net debt levels are down ($34.6 billion even including pension obligations) and cash balances are up (to $24.3 billion), according to a write-up on StreetInsider.com. GE now has the option, says the analyst, of deploying its cash to grow the business, to make pension fund contributions, or to retire preferred stock in the coming year, as management thinks best. At the same time, GE is restructuring its business to improve profitability, cutting costs in its healthcare, renewable, and aviation divisions, and is consequently improving its operating leverage. Now what The analyst argues that "the pace of manifest improvements picking up, as [cost cutting] becomes culturally reinforcing and [CEO Larry] Culp's turnaround gain[s] traction." Granted, GE's free cash flow situation still doesn't look great this year. But looking ahead to 2021 and 2022, Oppenheimer sees upside to these free cash flow forecasts -- and Oppenheimer isn't alone in thinking this. According to forecasts collected by S&P Global Market Intelligence, most analysts expect GE to burn cash this year. But by next year, free cash flow could turn positive to the tune of $2.4 billion, and then grow 67% to $4 billion in 2022 -- or more. 10 stocks we like better than General ElectricWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and General Electric wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source