General Electric’s chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, said Tuesday that the company was undergoing a renewal after what had been one of the most difficult years in its 117-year history.

Mr. Immelt said in his annual outlook session for analysts in New York that G.E. was focusing on sectors like energy and health care as it looked to its big industrial divisions to navigate out of the deep recession. It also plans to rely much less on its lending arm, GE Capital, for profits next year.

Yet despite the shift in strategy, G.E.’s forecast for 2010 showed that the effects of the economic crisis would linger. Overall revenue and profit are expected to be largely flat next year at GE Capital and at the industrial divisions that make jet engines, power plant turbines and medical equipment.

G.E. recently announced plans to sell its NBC entertainment division to Comcast, a move that will help it free up cash that Mr. Immelt said would be used to expand. He did not cite specifics, but G.E. is expected to have up to $26 billion in cash by the end of 2010.