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Q4 Preview: Europe in Focus for General Motors (GM) Investors

February 15, 2012 5:58 PM EST
GM Hot Sheet
Rating Summary:
    16 Buy, 5 Hold, 0 Sell

Rating Trend: = Flat

Today's Overall Ratings:
    Up: 0 | Down: 0 | New: 0
Shares of General Motors (NYSE: GM) closed nearly 2 percent lower Wednesday heading into the automaker's fourth-quarter earnings report, expected out before the market opens Thursday.

The Street is looking for earnings growth of 31 percent to 41 cents per share on revenue of $38.2 billion.

Shares gained about 0.5 percent through the quarter and are up about 23 percent since the end of the last quarter. Shares of GM have traded within a range of $19.00 to $36.84 over the last 52-week time frame.

Sales in the U.S. were mixed for the last three months of 2011: October sales rose 1.7 percent, November saw a 7 percent jump, and December sales increased 4.5 percent.

Data from Bloomberg has 16 analysts with a Buy rating on GM, five at Hold, and none with a Sell. The Street's price target average is $32.50, with a low of $22 and high of $36.

Deutsche Bank believes most investors will be focusing on European earnings. The firm said, "GM’s issues in Europe appear to be more related to price than cost. This is a broad industry issue. And short of an industry restructuring, pricing will be difficult to improve. On the cost side, we see the potential for GM to consolidate 1-2 plants, and consolidate global platforms. But this would not likely happen in the short-term, and it is likely to be very expensive. In the near-term, the company is not as uncompetitive as many believe (breakeven point was lowered significantly in 2011), and decremental margins in 2012 may likely be mitigated through government-sponsored shortened work-week programs."

According to Deutsche, EPS should be about 32 cents with EBIT of $868 million.

Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's EPS Insider section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release. You can also check out GM's past performance at Streetinsider's GM's Income Statement.


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