Cars and Drivers
Better North American, Chinese Margins Drive GM Earnings Higher
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On a GAAP basis, GM’s EPS in the quarter was $0.67, which included $600 million related to a previously announced currency devaluation in Venezuela, $400 million for asset impairments primarily for GM Thailand and $100 million for an adjustment to the estimated cost of the ignition switch compensation program.
The company said that the decline in revenues was “more than attributed to a negative net foreign currency exchange impact.” On a constant-currency basis net revenues were $900 million higher year-over-year.
North American first-quarter EBIT-adjusted earnings rose to $2.8 billion from $1.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. EBIT-adjusted margins came in at 10.5%.
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The company’s CEO said:
The first two quarters of the year were strong as we fully capitalized on a robust North American industry and maintained our strength in China, despite the challenging conditions in that market. We said our goal was to improve our earnings and margins this year, and we are on-plan. Consistent with that, we believe our results in the second half of the year will be even better than the first half, and we’re confident we will meet our 2016 targets. … Record margins in North America and strong margins in China produced a second quarter that demonstrates the earnings power of this company. We expect continued strong performance in these key markets.
The company continues to expect total EBIT-adjusted earnings and EBIT-adjusted margin to increase in 2015 after adjusting 2014 for recall costs. The consensus estimate for the third quarter calls for EPS of $1.18 on revenues of $39.67 billion. Full-year 2015 EPS is estimated at $4.39 on revenues of $156.13 billion.
North American unit sales rose from 830,000 in the second quarter a year ago to 878,000, but European sales fell from 305,000 to 303,000. Worldwide sales slipped from 1.503 million last year to 1.465 million this year.
GM’s U.S. market share fell from 17.9% to 17.6% year over year. European market share dipped from 6.8% to 6.3% and worldwide share declined from 11.3% to 11.1%.
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GM’s shares traded up 6.8% in premarket activity Thursday, at $32.36 in a 52-week range of $28.82 to $38.99. The consensus price target for the shares was around $40.90 before the report.
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