General Electric shares have fallen 42 percent this year, on pace for their worst annual performance since 2008.

While some may view the stock as a no-touch at current levels, Larry McDonald, founder of the Bear Traps Report, sees it as a “screaming buy,” even with the company slashing it dividend in half. Here’s why.

• “I’m watching GE because it’s a spectacular opportunity. People are heading for the exits at a pace which we haven’t seen since the Great Depression, or the 2008 financial crisis,” McDonald said Thursday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.” He added that this sets up a “very unusual opportunity” to buy the stock, which closed Thursday at $18.25 per share.

• Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday downgraded GE’s credit quality due in part to “extreme deterioration” in the company’s energy business, though it maintained a stable outlook. This doesn’t surprise McDonald, who said the credit markets are rather unconcerned with the company’s credit quality.

• “It’s really an intermediate story. Over the next six months the risk-reward on GE is fantastic, and it’s really a screaming buy here,” he said.

• The stock has fallen nearly 11 percent in the last week.

Bottom line: McDonald says General Electric stock is a buy at these levels given the risk-reward he sees, and how far the stock has tumbled.