General Electric shares rose Wednesday after second-quarter earnings topped expectations and the battered conglomerate gave a better-than-expected outlook for its industrial cash flow, a key metric watched by investors.

GE reported adjusted earnings of 17 cents a share, down 6% from the same quarter last year but above the 12 cents a share anticipated by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. The company also reported revenue of $28.83 billion, lower than a year earlier but slightly above the $28.68 billion analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected.

The company raised its forecast for this year's earnings to a range of 55 cents to 65 cents a share, up a nickel on both ends from its previous range.

"We made steady progress on our strategic priorities in the second quarter. Our top-line growth was solid, and Power made meaningful improvements on fixed cost reduction and project execution," GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp said in a statement.

Shares of GE opened trading up more than 2% but slid through the day, closing down 0.7% at $10.45 a share.

GE also announced that long-tenured executive Jamie Miller will step down as CFO. Miller has been with GE since 2008. She was appointed as CFO in 2017 under former CEO John Flannery, who was removed last year.

"Jamie was the last of the brigade from before and I think what it says — it has nothing to do with her performance — is that Larry has his arms around the change at GE," William Blair analyst Nicholas Heymann told CNBC's "Squawk Box."