General Motors (GM) is falling about 2% this morning after beating analysts’ earnings estimates as the company posted strong U.S. profits but reported a loss in Europe and market share losses worldwide.
GM posted 93 cents of EPS, 8 cents ahead of expectations. Revenue of $37.8 billion beat expectations for $37.6 billion. GM raised prices in North America, a reversal from last year when the company was offering incentives to entice drivers into showrooms, Reuters pointed out. The company said that it should be able to match its success in North America in the second and third quarter.
�The U.S. economic recovery, record demand for GM vehicles in China and the global growth of the Chevrolet brand helped deliver solid earnings for General Motors,� said Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson. �New products are starting to make a difference in South America, but Europe remains a work in progress.”
In Europe, GM posted a $256 million loss on an adjusted EBIT basis, versus a $5 million gain a year ago. But North American adjusted EBIT grew 35% to $1.69 billion.
In a financial supplement to the earnings release, the company said worldwide market share slipped to 11.3% from 11.4% a year ago — it fell to 22.8% from 24.8% in the U.S.
But one observer sees a bright side to the fall.
“GM’s market share drop is the result of significantly improved production and incentives spending optimization efforts that enable the automaker to be profitable even with a smaller slice of the market as well as the better than expected sales performance from Toyota and Chrysler this year,” said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Market Intelligence for TrueCar.com.
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