Are GM's results as bad as they look?

General Motors Corp.'s (NYSE: GM) first quarter results may not be as bad as they look, even though they are horrendous.

The company missed Wall Street forecasts largely because of losses its former financial business incurred in the suprime mortgage market. Net income was $62 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with $602 million, or $1.06 a year earlier. Revenue fell 16% to $43.9 billion. Excluding one-time items, profit was 17 cents per share. Analysts had expected profit of 87 cents on revenue of $40.9 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

Nonetheless, the automotive business had a $272 million profit, down from $295 million, helped by the cost-cutting undertaken by Chief Executive Rick Wagoner. Profit in the automotive segment on an adjusted basis was $304 million, up from $40 million.

So far, investors have indicated that they believe GM's challenges are more daunting than its rivals. The automaker's shares have lagged both Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and DaimlerChrylser AG (NYSE: DCX).

But has the market unfairly penalized GM? Is all of the bad news priced into GM's stock?

Anyone looking for a true contrarian bet should consider buying the shares. Remember people don't get rich following the crowd.

Get the latest on cars and trucks
from GM and all brands at AOL Autos.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 12, 2012: 05:25 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

Learn More About GM Cars

General Motors Brands:
Find Your Next Car

AOL Autos New Cars and Used Cars

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1329085530497 ms.