Report: Chrysler outperforming internal forecasts, readying IPO

From Monday's 'More Good News' edition, this nugget from Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne: "It is clear that if we continue to perform at this rate we're going to be in excess of the guidance that was provided in 2009." What does that mean? It means that Chrysler is making more money and using that money more efficiently than expected. If such performance keeps up, the Pentastar will put up better than expected numbers this year, and could be ripe for an IPO ahead of anyone's schedule.

Chrysler showed an operating profit in the first quarter of this year, but even so, it doesn't want to change its estimates for the entire year, at least not yet. The only brand-new vehicle it will be rolling out is the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and that leaves a lot of not-exactly-new product trying to keep the momentum going all the way to the end of the year.

Still, for a company that was left for dead last summer, to be here in May of 2010 talking about it at operational break-even this year and net break-even next year is not a bad year of work. With negative cash flow of $1 billion expected this year, true profit is still a couple of years away, but we can at least see the way with the Fiat 500 arriving in December, a Chrysler small car in Q4 of 2011, updates on its current offerings and an IPO. Come on, Jeep Grand Cherokee...

[Source: Reuters]

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