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The
automaker's shares were up 3.5 percent at $33.30 in premarket
trading after rising as high as $33.68. That is still only just
above their 2010 initial public offering price of $33, despite
three straight quarters of record-breaking pretax profits.
Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra has stepped up efforts to
persuade skeptical investors that GM can deliver consistently
strong profits - and return billions to shareholders - through
the ups and downs of the industry's sales cycles.
First-quarter net income more than doubled to $2 billion, or
$1.24 a share.
Excluding a one-time expense for litigation settlements,
earnings were $1.26 a share, well ahead of analysts'
expectations of $1.00.
The company said pretax income, excluding one-time items, was a
record for the first quarter.
GM said it still expected full-year earnings of $5.25 and $5.75
a share, excluding special items, up from $5.02 in 2015.
Revenue for the first quarter rose 4.5 percent to $37.3 billion.
Adjusted profit margins increased to 7.1 percent of revenue from
5.8 percent a year earlier.
North America accounted for 85 per cent of GM's earnings before
interest and taxes, reflecting robust profits from sport utility
vehicles and pickup trucks.
Margins from the region, however, fell to 8.7 percent from 8.8
percent a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens
attributed the decline to restructuring costs and more U.S.
union members taking packages to retire.
Stevens said the company still expected North American margins
of more than 10 percent for 2016.
In Europe, GM broke even, reversing a year-earlier loss of $200
million.
Stevens affirmed the company's target for 8 percent profit
margins in Europe over the next several years, but said the
possibility that the United Kingdom will leave the European
Union is a concern. "What does that do to pound sterling?" he
said. "What does that do to business, and business
transactions?"
The automaker narrowed losses in South America. Income from
joint ventures in China was flat at $500 million for the
quarter.
(Reporting by Joseph White and Bernie Woodall; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Lisa Von Ahn)
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