General Motors Posts $3 Billion Third Quarter Loss, Beats Expectations

[AutoVerdict]

Source: AutoVerdict
October 24, 2017
by Nick Saporito

General Motors Company this morning reported third quarter earnings with a $2.98 billion loss. Despite the negative connotation to that figure, the results beat Wall Street analysts' expectations, with the majority of the negative figures surrounding the sale of the company's European assets.*

In total, GM reported quarterly revenues of $33.6 billion, a figure that beat expectations by around $1 billion. The higher-than-expected revenue figure helped propel all of GM's operating regions to a positive net income for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2014.*

GM International, GM South America and GM Financial all saw gains in EBIT results versus the same period in 2016. GM North America saw a decline, associated with what GM says is a planned 26 percent reduction in wholesale sales volume.*

Earlier this year GM sold off its European operations, including the Opel and Vauxhall brands, to France's PSA Group. GM says this transaction has led to a $5.4 billion charge against its third quarter results, leading to the overall negative net income.*

The vast majority of the $5.4 billion charge are non-cash items; most being tax deferments that are not longer realized.* At least $1.5 billion of the figure is in the form of cash that GM is having to transfer to Opel's pension fund as part of the deal with PSA.*

In pre-market trading, GM's stock was up just under 4 percent over the earnings results.*

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[Tone]

For all the chat among enthusiasts that GM is making the wrong moves -- pulling out of Europe and letting Holden die on the vine -- the numbers seem to indicate otherwise. My take: GM is prepping itself for potential big changes in the industry that are hard to predict and focusing on spending to make sure it doesn't get caught out. It's good if the trend goes toward electrification and autonomous vehicles. And, it's also good if people still want full-sized pickups and OHV V8s. More importantly, it's shedding the underperforming aspects of the business that could hold it back. It's untypically bold and strategic and I think they are on the right track.