NEW YORK – General Electric Co. is bracing for another volatile year. The global conglomerate expects to see emerging markets from China to South America continue to grow while Europe falls into a recession.

Its own results are also telling two different stories: Fourth-quarter profit improved when the results of sold-off businesses are excluded. But revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, partly because of a slowdown in Europe.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Jeffrey Immelt called the last three months of 2011 “a good quarter (that) could have been even better.”

But, he added: “I like our momentum, and really we feel good about where we are and what we can get done in 2012.”

The company, which has operations in Fort Wayne, makes a wide variety of products, from light bulbs to jet engines.

The CEO held on to his prediction of double-digit earnings growth, despite some areas of concern. Revenue in the energy infrastructure division, GE’s biggest, rose 19 percent, but profit was flat. Health care division profit was off by 5 percent. Profit at the home and business solutions divisions, which includes appliances, fell 41 percent.

GE said infrastructure orders rose 15 percent in the final three months of 2011, leaving it with its biggest-ever order backlog of $200 billion. In a note to clients, Citi analyst Deane Dray said the backlog, combined with a 23 percent increase in equipment orders in the quarter, sets the company up to meet the lofty earnings growth goal.

Including discontinued businesses, profit dropped 18 percent in the fourth quarter. GE also said growth slowed in Europe.

GE’s ongoing effort to make its GE Capital financing arm more efficient reduced revenue at the unit by 9 percent. Still, profit at GE Capital, the company’s second-largest segment jumped 58 percent.

The overall revenue decline of 8 percent reflects GE’s sale of its majority stake in NBC Universal to Comcast last year.