General Motors' Profit, Revenue Rise, Beat Consensus
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
said second-quarter earnings more than doubled as revenue ticked up on strong vehicle sales. Cost-cutting also boosted the bottom line.
The world's largest automaker earned $1.3 billion, or $2.43 a share, in the quarter, up from $477 million, or $1.03 a share, a year ago. Excluding its
Hughes Electronics
(GMH)
unit and a charge, GM earned $1.5 billion, or $2.63 a share, in the quarter, 21 cents better than the consensus estimate. Revenue rose to $48.27 billion from $46.22 billion.
GM's global automotive operations earned $1.1 billion in the second quarter, up from $410 million a year ago. Global production rose about 7%, with strong performance in North America partially offset by losses in Europe and Latin America. Income at GM North America more than doubled to about $1.2 billion as the company's overall U.S. market share increased to 28.1% from 27.3% a year ago.
The company's finance arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp., earned $431 million in the second quarter, down from $449 million a year ago. The company said higher credit losses and unfavorable borrowing spreads offset the positive effect of higher retail asset levels.
The company said it made cash contributions of $3.2 billion to pension and other retirement benefit funds in the quarter and ended the period with a net liquidity position of $2.6 billion, up $300 million.
