GM earnings report delayed, NYSE halts shares

John Neff — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST

General Motors was supposed to issue a press release detailing its third quarter earnings results at 10:30AM EST this morning, a time which has come gone without a word from the General. As a result, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of the automaker's stock at 11:04AM pending the results. An interview that GM CEO Rick Wagoner had scheduled on Bloomberg Television to coincide with the earnings announcement at 10:30AM has also reportedly been pushed back to 12:55PM. The automaker is mum on what's taking so long to release its Q3 report, which is widely expected to contain terrible earnings news. While some are suggesting that the delay implies these results will be worse than expected, we don't see how waiting a few extra hours is going to change the numbers one way or another. We do, however, expect GM not to sugar coat its poor financial performance in the third quarter, as the louder it screams the sky is falling, the more likely the federal government will step in with more low-interest loans or even a cash injection. Stay tuned, we'll report when the numbers finally arrive.

[Source: Bloggingstocks]

GM earnings report delayed, NYSE halts shares originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM loses $39 billion in third quarter, but autos are profitable

John Neff — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:10:00 EST

Filed under: GM, Earnings/Financials

General Motors announced its third quarter earnings today and surprised Wall Street by revealing a $38.6 billion charge on the books that represents a change in tax accounting required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Statement of Financial Accounting Standards. That huge number represents tax credits the automaker can't account for until it actually earns the taxable income to which it applies.

Even without considering the tax adjustment of $38.6 billion and other special items like the $3.5 billion sale of Allison Transmission, GM still lost around $1.6 billion last quarter, compared to the $497 million profit it earned for the same quarter last year.

Despite the red ink on paper, GM's auto business actually performed well in the third quarter. It recorded a profit of $122 million compared with a loss of $577 million in Q3 2006. Global sales reached 2.39 million vehicles, up 4 percent from last year and a record for the company.

Nevertheless, the tax accounting adjustment that led to a total loss of around $39 billion stands as the largest quarterly loss ever for GM, surpassing the $21 billion hit the company took in 1992. As such, the announcement of GM's earnings today have been driving down the Dow Jones Industrial Average. At 11:48 AM EST, the Dow is down 143.80 points.

[Source: The Detroit News, BloggingStocks]

GM loses $39 billion in third quarter, but autos are profitable originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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