GM ALWAYS releases the really bad news on a Friday.The two-day interregnum gives Wall Street's money men a chance to get distracted by booze, babes and baubles. More SOP: auto analysts predictions of GM's losses are usually too high. (You might suggest an intentional disinformation campaign, but I couldn't possibly comment.) This time out, Bloomberg makes a pretty good case for, uh, what are we going to call THIS one? Holy Black Hole Friday? Anyway… "Collapsing values of leased sport-utility vehicles may force General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to announce $2.3 billion in losses tomorrow on top of more than $1.4 billion that analysts have forecast." Uh-oh, here comes that damn "headwind" analogy again… "This is clearly one more headwind they have to fight,'' Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson opined. "If they end leasing, it could end up being a 5 to 10 percent headwind to sales.'' To paraphrase Police Chief Martin Brody, "You're going to need a smaller, faster and more seaworthy boat." [Triskadecaphobes note: Bloomie's survey of 13 auto analysts reckons GM will report a loss of $2.41 a share.]
13 Comments on “Bloomberg Pegs GM’s Q2 Loss at $3.7b...”
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HA! Great news (I guess).
And they say that Ford is the best off of the Big 3.
Right.
I had a professor in college wax eloquently on humankind’s limited understanding of very large numbers. As far as the mathematics world is concerned, 3.7 billion is not a large number, but so far as this cowpoke is concerned, I have virtually no comprehension of what 3.7×10^9 is when speaking of dollars.
Nice photo pick.
Smile, you SOB!
I’m sure they will announce some major breakthrough in the Volt or direct-injection fairy-dust or that resale on Chevettes is rising or that they’re doing really well in Ghana or something. Always some covering fire before the really bad news.
N85523:
That’s great observation. Am I right in thinking a loss of 3.7b a quarter is like 1.7 million dollars an hour?
I thought I was the only person watching jaws on AMC last night.
You know – I think the better photo pick might have been Quint from Jaws.
This entire GM mess reminds me of Quint monologue about the USS Indianapolis, “So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest.”
So many people are losing their lives due to the incompetence of so few… it should be criminal, but it’s not, it’s business as usual.
“Headwinds,” “perfect storm,” and “at the end of the day.” Time to deep-six them all!
and you wondered why they keep the UAW around….
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/BUSINESS01/807310368/1002/business
Well at least the excuse “we are lessening fleet sales” hasn’t been used on this one…yet.
let’s see how much the stock free falls tomorrow!!
Tar Pit Friday?
What were the Q1 losses again? I’m too busy and lazy to look it up and try and find it. The significant thing to note about the number that comes out tomorrow is the 3rd quarter numbers will be an even worse blood bath. Looks like they are headed for a 2008 loss of $13-15B, yikes.
Spin away guys, just don’t forget the Coriolis Force: toilet water spins clockwise in North America.
Robert, did you just sneak in a House of Cards reference? Nifty indeed!
How does this compare with Q1, and how much do you think they’ve got in the bank? Perhaps a link to the financial reports?
It’s not as bad as everyone thought it would be. For the 2nd quarter, it’s only a loss of $15.5 BILLION, with a B. Oh wait, it’s worse. See: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080801/clf021.html?.v=101