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General Motors Co.'s third-quarter operating profit jumped 25%, as the auto maker sells more pricey trucks and sport-utility vehicles in its home market while straining in China that have tripped up its Detroit rivals.
GM said Wednesday's operating profit for the July-to-September period-stripping out one-time factors-totaled $ 3.2 billion, a record for the quarter.
The largest markets in China and the United States, despite significant sales declines in each country.
Pretax earnings per share, adjusted for one-time items, was $ 1.87 a share, easily surpassing analysts' expectations of $ 1.25 a share. GM shares surged more than 9% in premarket trading.
Net income was $ 2.5 trillion. That compares with a loss of about $ 3 billion a year earlier, driven by the fact that the European Opel AG unites in August 2017.
Revenue rose about 6%, to $ 35.8 billion, slightly higher than analysts' forecasts. GM reiterated its full-year operating profit outlook of $ 5.80- $ 6.20 per share, saying it expects to be at the end end of that range.
The nation's biggest company by sales and marketing of healthy margins in China and the U.S.-come under pressure.
GM's sales in China in the third quarter fell 15%, while U.S. sales dropped 11% in the same period. But in both countries, the company has managed to shift its sales to more lucrative vehicles.
In the U.S., GM. It's a little bit too expensive to drive a car, and it's a mix of large SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, helping the average selling price around $ 36,000, a record for the quarter.
"We had a pricing discipline in this quarter," GM finance chief Dhivya Suryadevara told reporters Wednesday.
Operating profit in North America surged 37% to $ 2.8 billion. GM said it was 10.2%, despite the drop in sales and tariff-related commodity cost increases.
In China, GM 's Cadillac Luxury Brand Affects Record Sales During The Quarter. That helped the company fight in the country, the Chinese car market first major slowdown in years. GM's third-quarter income from joint ventures in China rose 6%, to $ 485 million.
Despite the headwinds in China, the world's largest source of profit for GM, which lives with
Volkswagen
AG
the top-selling auto maker in the country.
GM is on track to bring in $ 2 billion in operating profit from China this year, while
Ford Motor
Co.
and
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
NV have swung to losses there.
Still, collectively the results of the Detroit auto makers show their growing reliance on truck and SUV sales in North America to fuel the bottom line, as it gets tougher to do business in other key markets overseas.
Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday posted record operating profit in North America for the third quarter, while performance in Europe and China worsened. Ford posted similar lopsided results last week, with North America driving the bulk of its profits during the period of the company's international operations continued to weaken.
Analysts estimate sales of pickup trucks and large SUVs in the U.S. account for 50% to 80% of the three Detroit companies' profits.
Write to Mike Colias at [email protected]
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