General Electric has outlined its battle plan to fight the financial crisis, seeking to preserve its triple-A rating and its dividend.

The conglomerate—whose businesses range from NBC to turbines—said it expected to report fourth-quarter earnings at the low range of its previous forecast. It sees earnings of 50 to 52 cents per share. Analysts have been expecting a profit of 51 cents per share.

Nervous investors have been focusing on G.E.'s giant finance unit, G.E. Capital, amid concerns that it could become the next casualty of the financial crisis. Shares of G.E. have slumped 58 percent this year. The company today detailed how it will shrink G.E. Capital and reduce its leverage. Jobs will be cut and the unit will depend less on the commercial paper market and seek some $80 billion in alternative funding. G.E. will take a charge of as much as $1.4 billion to pay for cost cuts and restructuring.

"We are taking a number of tough but prudent actions to make G.E. Capital safer, stronger, and more secure during this financial crisis," said Keith Sherin, the company's chief financial officer. "We are committed to being a Triple-A company. These actions include a funding plan that reflects the current market, and we are lowering our leverage ratio and commercial-paper balance. Our forecast anticipates a challenging loss environment. We are also reorganizing the business to reduce costs and allocate capital more efficiently."

G.E. Capital made clear that it would not tap the $700 billion TARP program (which could spark fears of share dilution among investors), but it is taking advantage of two other federal programs: the Federal Reserve's facility to backstop commercial paper and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.