General Motors tops expectations with a $6 billion loss in the first quarter

The earnings news isn't great for General Motors (NYSE: GM) this morning, but the company did manage to lose less money than expected. The struggling American automaker announced that it lost $6 billion during the quarter and spent $10.2 billion more cash than it received. Excluding items, GM lost $9.78 per share -- far greater than a year ago when the firm lost 67 cents per share.

Despite results being far worse than a year ago, GM managed to top expectations of a loss of $11.39 per share. GM's quarterly revenue dropped 47% to $22.4 billion from $42.4 billion a year ago.

[Update: GM will need another $2.6 billion in U.S. aid in May, CFO Ray Young said on a conference call.]

The automaker noted that the latest results show its continued global economic pressures along with low auto industry volumes worldwide. Industry sales slumped 21% in the first quarter, which led to reduced volume and revenue across the board.

While a smaller-than-expected loss is nice, a loss is a loss, and a nearly $10-per-share loss is huge. Furthermore, GM continues to stare down the barrel of a June 1 government deadline to either complete restructuring or go into bankruptcy protection.

The picture definitely isn't pretty for GM, but it is possible that the company can come up with an acceptable plan. Although, it seems that the government may have already made up its mind about GM's fate. Nevertheless, the company must shift gears and begin to offer consumers what they want, not what the company wants to make. Unfortunately, this isn't the business model GM has followed in the past, and it sure is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

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Last updated: February 13, 2012: 02:45 PM

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