Cutting ties with the finance division would hurt GE shareholders instead of benefiting them because the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company trades at a price that’s higher than its value if broken up, Jeff Sprague, an analyst at Vertical Research, wrote today in a note to clients.

“The company is being rewarded in a sense for being constituted in its current configuration,” Sprague said in a telephone interview. “It might sound good in theory but it’s just not a good idea to split the company given where the valuation is.”