Earnings increase despite ailing auto sales

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 9:08 a.m.

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. earned $425 million in the third quarter in contrast to a loss of $804 million in the period a year ago, when the world's largest automaker incurred a $1.37 billion expense related to its investment in Fiat Auto Holdings.

GM said today its profit amounted to 79 cents a share, easily beating the Wall Street consensus of 66 cents a share compiled by Thomson First Call. The company also said it expected to exceed its original 2003 earnings target of $5 a share.

A year ago, GM posted a loss of $1.42 a share in the July-September quarter, when one-time expenses totaled $1.42 billion, or $2.62 a share. The company had no special charges in the third quarter of 2003, when revenue rose 5.4 percent to $45.9 billion from $43.6 billion a year ago.

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