[quagmire]

GM posts a $856 million profit for Q1. Good news keeps on coming in for GM and Ford.

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...-profit-91919/

[jeremyc74]

It's good to see that GM has shed enough debt and trimmed enough fat to be viable again. Hopefully we'll see them continue to improve their products, and get back to the point where they're a driving force instead of a company trying to catch up.

The whole automotive industry is in a huge upswing right now. I work for a company that builds equipment for them, and we went from being laid off a couple of days every week to completely buried in work.

It seems that at the beginning of the second quarter the upper management took a look at the projections for the car sales and realized they were going to be far greater than capacity, and everyone turned loose with the funding all at the same time.

This is good for my bank account (and tens of thousands of other people's) but it's sure going to screw up my summer.

[MrRoboto]

GM said it paid $203 million in dividends to its preferred stockholders, the U.S. and Canadian governments and a United Auto Workers union retiree health care trust.

......

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

GM said it paid $203 million in dividends to its preferred stockholders, the U.S. and Canadian governments and a United Auto Workers union retiree health care trust.

......

Considering that is who holds stock in GM Company right now, what is so surprising?

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by quagmire

Considering that is who holds stock in GM Company right now, what is so surprising?

Not surprising at all. Where's our dividend? Its our tax dollars that bailed them out.

[Feyd]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Not surprising at all. Where's our dividend? Its our tax dollars that bailed them out.

Don't worry, it'll be "re-allocated".

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Not surprising at all. Where's our dividend? Its our tax dollars that bailed them out.

You just got it.

It went right back into the government where it came from.

I wouldn't really trust that info to determine the shape of the company considering how easy it is to manipulate profits and earnings, especially if the government is willing to look the other way...

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by my92

I wouldn't really trust that info to determine the shape of the company considering how easy it is to manipulate profits and earnings, especially if the government is willing to look the other way...

Those numbers are GAAP numbers. So if GM is doing any manipulation, they would be accountable to the SEC and could get in trouble.

I am not saying GM is out of the woods yet. There is still work to be done at GM, but this is a good sign that all the changes have worked so far.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by quagmire

I am not saying GM is out of the woods yet. There is still work to be done at GM, but this is a good sign that all the changes have worked so far.

I agree, and the product that's in the pipeline right now is looking even better than what's on the lots today. They're also about to do a major overhaul to the Camaro interior to address its shortcomings, which is good to hear. Not only do they realize where the issues are, they're doing something about them less than 2 years after the car was released.

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

You just got it.

It went right back into the government where it came from.

Once the original investment is paid back do the governments retain their interest in GM?

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

I agree, and the product that's in the pipeline right now is looking even better than what's on the lots today. They're also about to do a major overhaul to the Camaro interior to address its shortcomings, which is good to hear. Not only do they realize where the issues are, they're doing something about them less than 2 years after the car was released.

Shows they are out of touch with what the market wants. If they were on the ball these 'shortcomings' never would have been released.

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Once the original investment is paid back do the governments retain their interest in GM?

The remaining investment in GM is the governments shares in the company. Once the IPO is issued, the government will slowly sell their stake in GM to get the rest of the investment back. I have not heard if the government will retain a small share in GM. All I have heard is that they want out of GM as soon as practical. So we can assume they will eventually sell off all their interest in GM.

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Shows they are out of touch with what the market wants. If they were on the ball these 'shortcomings' never would have been released.

Like BMW's don't have their shortcomings......

Frankly, I don't have an issue with the Camaro's interior. The only thing I don't like is the steering wheel. But, that is just my opinion. So I am happy GM is going to apparently fix the issue that many complain about.

[fatjoez]

"General Motors said today it recorded a profit for the first quarter of $865 million. That compares to a loss of nearly $6 billion in the first quarter of 2009, prior to GM's bankruptcy.

Revenue totaled $31.5 billion, vs. $22.4 billion last year."

http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/17/gm-...newsvideo.html

So to summarize

$50 billion bailout package from government
Cut manufacturing, fire thousands of employees & numerous other operational budget cuts

Revenue up $9.1billion from 2009
Profit up 6.8billion

what a failure

[MrRoboto]

^^I agree with you. The GM reemergence doesn't say success to me.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Shows they are out of touch with what the market wants. If they were on the ball these 'shortcomings' never would have been released.

They had to release the car when they did. The development money had already been spent, and they needed to see some return on it. It turned out to be a very smart move. The Camaro sold like hotcakes, and at a premium. They turned a VERY good profit on every one sold.

Maybe you're out of touch with what the consumer wants?

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

Once the original investment is paid back do the governments retain their interest in GM?

Why are you asking me? This is common knowledge. The government is going to resell their stock on the open market. If you're going to offer an opinion on this, you could at least to a little research. At the end of the day the taxpayers will very likely turn a profit on this whole mess, if you consider the amount of unemployement we'd have been paying out if GM were allowed to collapse.

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

Why are you asking me? This is common knowledge. The government is going to resell their stock on the open market. If you're going to offer an opinion on this, you could at least to a little research. At the end of the day the taxpayers will very likely turn a profit on this whole mess, if you consider the amount of unemployement we'd have been paying out if GM were allowed to collapse.

I asked a question to which quagmire answered. I am one who believes GM should have been forced to work through bankruptcy on their own without government involvement.

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

They had to release the car when they did. The development money had already been spent, and they needed to see some return on it. It turned out to be a very smart move. The Camaro sold like hotcakes, and at a premium. They turned a VERY good profit on every one sold.

Maybe you're out of touch with what the consumer wants?

I am not the one selling cars now am I.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

I am not the one selling cars now am I.

No, you're the one making baseless statements like "shows they're out of touch with what people want" when the car is a huge hit.

[MrRoboto]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

No, you're the one making baseless statements like "shows they're out of touch with what people want" when the car is a huge hit.

You said it yourself...."They're also about to do a major overhaul to the Camaro interior to address its shortcomings"

I agree that the sales numbers are better then forecast.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by MrRoboto

You said it yourself...."They're also about to do a major overhaul to the Camaro interior to address its shortcomings"

I agree that the sales numbers are better then forecast.

There's a difference between admitting that an interior could use some improvement, and saying the company is "out of touch with what people want" as they're coming off a record setting year of sales with the product in question.

YOU are the one who's out of touch here. Obviously the Camaro interior could use some improvement, but it's also pretty obvious that it didn't keep tens of thousands of people from buying the car at or above MSRP, which is the whole point of building it.


As I said earlier, if you're going to offer your opinion on something like this, you should at least try to know what you're talking about.