GM turbocharges its first-quarter earnings
DETROIT -General Motors' (GM) first-quarter profit more than doubled on record earnings in North America, strong China profits and a break-even performance in Europe.
The Detroit automaker earned $1.95 billion, or $1.24 per share, even after a $500 million cash investment in ride-hailing company Lyft.
After $300 million mainly for union worker buyouts and $60 million to settle stockholder lawsuits, GM earned $1.26 per share. That soundly beat Wall Street forecasts. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1 per share.
Revenue was $37.3 billion, up 4.4 percent, beating estimates of $34.9 billion.
GM continued to do well in its home market on strong truck and SUV sales. North American pretax profits set a first-quarter record of $2.3 billion. The company broke even in Europe compared with a $200 million loss a year ago.
Investors hopped on the strong earnings report in premarket trading Thursday morning, pushing the shares up nearly 3.5 percent, or $1.10, to $33.30.