beating the street

GM Shows Quarterly Profit Globally -- And In North America -- Umm -- Something

The General released earnings numbers for it's most recent quarter just moments ago, beating analyst expectations of a slight profit. The biggest US automaker showed $45.92B in net revenues and a net income of $891 million ($1.56 per diluted share) for the second quarter of 2007, an improvement of $4.3 billion compared with a reported net loss of $3.4 billion ($5.98 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter. Those numbers also include $520 million ($.92 per diluted share) in net special items, including $374 million in charges associated with GM's support of the bankruptcy and reorganization of Delphi and other fun stuff going on with restructuring of GM NorAm. But the biggest piece of news in the release is:

"GMNA had adjusted net income from continuing operations of $78 million in the second quarter 2007 (reported net loss from continuing operations of $39 million), compared to adjusted net loss of $94 million from continuing operations (reported net loss from continuing operations of $3.95 billion) in the second quarter 2006."

So, they had "adjusted net income of $78 million" and a "reported net loss from continuing operations of $39 million?" Which one is it? Well, whatever it is, even in the short term, if anyone thinks the General's out of the woods, think again. Things will get dicey tomorrow yet again, as Edmunds is predicting July US sales for the big ol' automaker from Detroit to be down 18% when those numbers are announced. Full press release below the jump. More »