Has GM Turned the Corner?

DETROIT (TheStreet) -- Has General Motors turned the corner?

By now, the story of the turnaround at Ford(F Quote), presided over by CEO Alan Mulally, is well-known. But the potential outcome of the effort to turn around GM, overseen by the U.S. government, has been on the back burner.

Some green shoots at GM showed up Tuesday, when the automaker reported a 4% October sales gain, its first year-over-year sales gain since January 2008. After all it has been through, GM still controls 21% of the U.S. vehicle market. Importantly, the four brands GM will keep -- Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC -- accounted for 95% of sales, up 10% from a year earlier.

In fact, despite its success, Ford lags GM in two critical areas. Because it did not seek bankruptcy protection, it suffers from high debt and it failed to secure the same favorable contract terms from the United Auto Workers that GM and Chrysler have.

Although Ford announced a $1 billion profit Monday, the day was marred when the union announced that members had overwhelmingly rejected contract changes for Ford.

Meanwhile, Ford's $24 billion debt load is slated to increase over the next several months, as it takes on about $10 billion in new debt associated with pension contributions to the Voluntary Employees Benefit Association retiree health care trust fund. Ford moved Monday to address debt issues with a $1 billion stock offering, a $2.5 billion debt offering and a restructuring of at least $6 billion of its credit facility.