General Motors (GM - option chain) stock is trading lower today after company CFO Chris Liddell announced his resignation effective April 1. GM posted four straight profitable quarters under Liddell and successfully pulled off a major IPO after repairing massive accounting issues. GM said Treasurer Dan Ammann will replace Liddell. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GM.

This morning, GM opened at $31.47. So far today the stock has hit a high of $31.78 and a low of $30.95. As of 12:05, GM is trading at $31.51, down $0.74 (-2.3%). The chart for GM looks neutral and S&P gives GM a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For the first time since 2007, General Motors announced a quarterly profit this morning for its first quarter.

The Detroit automaker reported that it earned $865 million during the quarter, and that revenues were up 40% to $31.8 billion. During the same period last year the company had a loss of $6 billion.

General Motors said Monday it has tapped Christopher P. Liddell, chief financial officer of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), to take over its troubled finance operations. Liddell, 51, will be GM's first permanent top management hire from outside the company since it left bankruptcy protection in July.

Liddell joined Microsoft in 2005, and led the company's efforts this year to cut $3 billion in costs in light of the economic meltdown. These efforts included Microsoft's first mass layoffs, wage freezes, and cuts to employee travel. The stockpiling cash was also a priority during Liddell's tenure, which Microsoft announced last month would end on Dec. 31.

Microsoft (MSFT) CFO Chris Liddell will be leaving the company at the end of the year to further his career somewhere else, the company announced. Liddell, who joined Microsoft in 2005, was a stringent cost cutter and cash hoarder at a time when rival Google (GOOG) was stockpiling cash on its quest to dominate the world. You know -- the same quest Microsoft has been on for decades now?

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been on a tear recently, from excellent quarterly results to improvement in the distribution of its Windows Vista operating system and Xbox 360 gaming console. Although this tech dinosaur is 30-years-old, it's still having great success in many areas. At the same time, it's facing enormous challenges from upstart competitors that didn't even exist more than a decade ago, like Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Rarely, however, does any credit go to the company's chief financial officer, Chris Liddell. Liddell, a well-versed and extremely articulate professional without a degree in finance (philosophy and engineering, instead) has guided Microsoft through some exciting period in recent years since he took the reigns as CFO in 2005. Remember the billions in Microsoft-initiated shareholder stock buybacks from over a year ago? The huge spending plan in 2006 that was $2 billion over analyst forecasts and that caused a shedding in Microsoft's stock price? How about pushing for more expansions in spending instead of curbing everything to meet quarterly numbers? Liddell has been intimately involved in all of these.

Microsoft, here at the conclusion of 2007, is seemingly hitting on all possible cylinders even in the face of severe challenges to many of its mainstay product offerings. One thing the software giant has going for it is the world's largest private pile of cash that dwarfs Google's pile or any other company's cash hoard. That alone makes for some daring decisions in the future -- ones that will solidify Microsoft's future position or cause the competition to gain a stronger foothold into the company's jugular. Liddell will be holding the main keys regardless of which situation transpires. And he's the right person for the job too.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported revenue growth of 6% , but if you include the big jump in deferred revenue, revenue increased 20%, according to the company. Bookings growth was also up over 20%.

Microsoft is launching the consumer version of Vista and has also launched a new Office and Exchange Server. These product launches are huge for Microsoft.

Going forward, Microsoft expects double digit revenue growth and for earnings per share to exceed revenue growth.

Chris Liddell, Microsoft's CFO, said he expects an excellent year. He also said that hardware sales for the December quarter were strong, another positive data point for the sofware giant.

Microsoft's stock has had a good run anticipating the launch of Vista. However, it appears results are already exceeding most expectations. It appears Microsoft has its growth back and the stock has more to run. Investors have to ride the Vista launch.