(Story updated with GM update on international goals and analyst reaction to GM IPO)
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Two of the most widely discussed IPOs of late have been those of Tesla Motors, which launches Tuesday, and GM, which is slated for later in the year. Indeed, on Jim Cramer's Monday Stop Trading! segment on CNBC, Cramer declared that "GM's a real business ... Tesla isn't."
The UAW (United Auto Workers) healthcare trust also wants to sell shares in the IPO, according to Reuters. Wall Street Strategies analyst David Silver wrote in an investor note that the "American taxpayer and Canadian taxpayer shouldn't get all giddy that they will be repaid in full on the first round," following GM's IPO, pointing out that the largest IPO so far has been Visa's ( V) and it raised $17.9 billion; the U.S. taxpayer wants GM for more than $50 billion. "Eventually, General Motors will become a public company, but it will take a few more years before the U.S. taxpayer and Canadian taxpayers are made whole again," Silver believes. Nevertheless, he thinks that GM's IPO will be a more attractive deal than Tesla's, given that GM has a large market share and is growing overseas. Silver cautioned in his note that European sales will be weak through the rest of the year and the auto industry could plateau over the next few months -- especially with the end of the cash for clunkers program from last summer -- and be a drag on GM's IPO. In a meeting with the analyst and investor community outside Detroit Tuesday, GM executives told attendees that the company anticipates launching 70 models internationally by 2014 to drive market share, according to Silver. They also said that GM could become the first global automaker to sell over two million vehicles in China this year. All of this begs the question: How do you think the Tesla Motors and GM IPOs will stack up against each other? Take our poll below to see what TheStreet predicts -- and don't forget to leave a comment.
-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York
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