GM first quarter earnings soar to $2.6 billion

DETROIT — General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Friday the automaker’s first-quarter results show the company’s strategy of focusing on profitable areas and pulling back on others is making a difference.

The automaker’s profits soared 33 percent during the first three months of the year to $2.6 billion — a first-quarter record for the company since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. That compares with $1.93 billion GM earned during the same period a year ago.

The profits are notable because industry sales in North America are beginning to fall after a seven-year period of sustained growth. GM’s earnings came one day after Ford said its first-quarter profits fell 35 percent to $1.6 billion. It was the eighth straight quarter that the company beat Wall Street expectations.

The bigger profits were mostly driven by strong performance in North America and China.

In Europe, a division that has dogged the automaker for years, GM lost $200 million.

Barra said GM’s profits will “immediately improve” after it completes the sale of its European division. GM agreed to sell its Opel and Vauxhaul brands to PSA Groupe for $2.2 billion in March and expects to take a $4.5 billion charge when it completes the sale later this year.

During the first quarter, the automaker’s performance translated into earnings of $1.70 per share, easily beating Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts, on average, thought GM would earn $1.48 per share.

GM’s stock rose 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, on Friday to close at $34.64. GM also said its global revenue increased 10.6 percent to $41.2 billion.

Exxon

IRVING, Texas — Exxon more than doubled its profit in the first quarter as rising crude prices magnified the cost cuts made by the company as energy prices tumbled.

The Irving, Texas, company earned $4.01 billion, or 95 cents per share, for the three month period, up from $1.81 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. It’s the first year-over-year profit gain for Exxon since the third quarter of 2014, when the price of oil was just beginning a plunge that took it below $30 a barrel.

Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected 85 cents per share. Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales. Exxon’s revenue surged to $63.29 billion from $48.71 billion, but fell short of the $64.35 billion that analysts polled by Zacks were calling for.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 76 cents to $82.02 in Friday morning trading, but are still down 10 percent for the year.

Chevron

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Chevron on Friday reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street’s expectations as the oil and gas industry giant turned around from a loss a year ago and said business improved due to rising crude oil prices and continued cuts in its overall operational costs.

Before the stock market opened, San Ramon-based Chevron said it earned $2.7 billion, or $1.41 a share, on $33.4 billion in revenue in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $725 million, or 39 cents a share, on $23.6 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2016. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast Chevron to earn 87 cents a share on $36.12 billion in revenue.

The company’s swing to a first-quarter 2017 net profit was all the more dramatic after its struggles last year. Chevron previously said it had lost $497 million for full-year 2016 — a setback that marked its first full-year loss in decades, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission dating back to 1989.

“It’s the Big Oil comeback, and it looks to be coming back in a big way,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst with the Price Group, in Chicago. “Chevron cut back huge on spending, and with the increase in oil prices, revenues have jumped.”

Goodyear

AKRON, Ohio — Goodyear’s first-quarter results managed to beat analysts’expectations, even as the tire maker dealt with rising raw material costs and softer demand.

For the three months ended March 31, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. earned $166 million, or 65 cents per share. That compares with $184 million, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier.

Earnings, adjusted for one-time costs, came to 74 cents per share. That easily topped the 63 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research predicted.

Revenue for the Akron, Ohio-based company was nearly flat at $3.7 billion. Analysts expected $3.69 billion in revenue, according to Zacks.

Shares added 55 cents to $36 in Friday morning trading.