GM Doubles Profit in North America to Record on Truck Surge
Source: Bloomberg
by David Welch
July 23, 2015 7:30 AM EDT
Updated on July 23, 2015 8:50 AM EDT
General Motors Co.s second-quarter net income of $1.1 billion beat analyst estimates by a wide margin as rising light-truck sales in the U.S. and surprising strength in China led the way. Shares soared in early trading.
The company said that adjusted earnings per share were $1.29, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.06 and more than doubling the year-ago results on that basis. Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said record margins in North America and improved profit in China boosted the bottom line. GM stock rose 6.6 percent to $32.30 at 8:43 a.m. before regular trading in New York.
GMs profit rebounded from a year earlier as American buyers continue their love affair with trucks and the nations largest automaker overcame a tough car market in China by boosting sales of more-expensive sport utility vehicles and Cadillacs. Concerns about weakness in China have weighed on GMs shares, sending the stock down 13 percent this year through Wednesday.
The first two quarters of the year were strong as we fully capitalized on a robust North American industry and maintained our strength in China, despite the challenging conditions in that market, Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-23/gm-doubles-north-america-profit-on-truck-surge-to-beat-estimates
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)I work in a big place with lots of other employees; and it seems like everybody and their brother is getting new pickup trucks.
Not the smaller mid-sized ones ( Colorado, Frontier, Dakota ) but the big mastadon Dodge Rams, Tundras, Titans, F950's ( or whatever they're up to now ) so massive the underside of the body/frame is 2 feet off the ground.
Several I spoke to bought them just because gas got less expensive. They had some pretty nice cars before, but they traded them in on trucks.
I just couldn't get over the knee-jerk decisions like that. I also can't get over how friggin huge that full size pickups have become.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)looks like their stock is worth investing in. 6.6% up is so much better then most banks .01 interest earning account.
groundloop
(11,522 posts)Personally, my truck only gets driven when there's no alternative (buying lumber, etc.), the rest of the time it stays parked. It makes absolutely zero sense to drive something that gets 13 mpg when a more efficient vehicle can perfectly well get me from point A to point B.
LeftinOH
(5,358 posts)-but ESPECIALLY GM- spent too many years during the 1990s and 2000s concentrating on trucks and SUVs while ignoring their sedans. Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Plymouth were ignored to death and in Chevrolet devolved into the equivalent of 1990s-era Hyndais (cheap disposable transportation); a situation which has only recently been reversed somewhat.
During that period, GM added two new divisions, Saturn (which was eventually tossed away like a puppy that got too big and isn't cute anymore) and Hummer.. the most obnoxious line of vehicles ever made. Not only that, GM decided that Cadillac should have its own line of SUVs and even a pickup truck! I've never owned a GM vehicle, but I hate them for their arrogance and short-sightedness. GM is like the corporate equivalent of the American foreign policy: Keep repeating the same mistakes not learning from them.
Throd
(7,208 posts)GM is currently making the same advertising mistake with Buick and Chevrolet that it did with Oldsmobile. The bastards never learn.
BTW, Plymouth was a Chrysler division.
LeftinOH
(5,358 posts)Plymouths in my family. As a kid, my dream car was a Barracuda - which needless to say is never going to happen. Chrysler seemed to give up on Plymouth in the 1980s, right about the time they acquired Jeep. It's like the new adopted child got all the attention.
As for Oldsmobile, that division showed some real spunk in the final years (especially with the Aurora); for a moment it looked like the Olds would re-emerge as a contender. But GM mostly left them with the same kinds of badge engineered stuff that doomed Plymouth.
NickB79
(19,258 posts)2015 is shaping up to be the hottest fucking year in RECORDED HISTORY, we're already probably past the point of no return on climate change, and here we are, just gobbling up more of these carbon-spewing dick extenders to clog the roads with even further.
Murika, fuck yeah!