General Motors
A week before its initial public offering, the slimmed-down automaker reported its largest quarterly profit in 11 years Wednesday, showing that it no longer needed huge sales to generate significant earnings.
GM said it earned $2 billion in the third quarter. The automaker earned $4.2 billion from January through September.
The company said it expected to report a fourth-quarter profit, at least before accounting for interest and taxes, though “at a significantly lower run rate than each of the first three quarters,” and a full-year profit for the first time since 2004.
The profit was equal to $1.20 a share, after a three-for-one stock split. There is no meaningful year-ago profit comparison because the company emerged from bankruptcy in the third quarter of 2009.
Revenue increased 27 percent from the third quarter last year, to $34.1 billion. The New York Times
