(By Balaseshan) Automaker General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) reported a 41.1% drop in quarterly earnings due to headwinds in Europe and South America regions. Earnings exceeded Street's expectations, sending its shares up 1.73% in premarket.
Profit plunged 41.1% to $1.49 billion for the second quarter, while earnings per share (EPS) dropped 41.6% to $0.90.
Revenue declined 4.5% to $37.61 billion, due almost entirely to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar versus other major currencies. Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of $0.74 per share on revenue of $38.58 billion.
Automotive sales decreased 4.3% to $37.13 billion, while GM Financial revenue jumped 47.6% to $487 million.
Revenue from GM North America declined 1% to $22.90 billion, while GM Europe revenue plunged 21% to $5.89 billion. Revenue from GM International Operations grew 8.5% to $6.95 billion, while GM South America revenue decreased 4.2% to $4.18 billion.
Worldwide production volume for the second quarter marginally declined to 2.393 million units from 2.4 million units, due to lower production in GM Europe and GM South America segments.
Worldwide market share decreased to 11.6% from 12.3%, while total vehicles U.S. Retail/Fleet Mix fell to 29.6% from 30.6%.
GM closed Wednesday's regular session at $19.66. The stock has been trading between $18.72 and $28.09 for the past 52 weeks.