General Motors hasn’t announced their Q3 financial results prior to November in six years, but they intend to announce them on October 31st, 2012 – just prior to the U.S. general election on November 6th.

The timing, reported by MLive.com, is apparently coincidental, with GM spokesman Jim Cain telling the outlet that

 ”…scheduling is based on committee meetings, executives’ schedules and other internal factors.”

Chrysler and Ford have yet to announce the timing of their Q3 result announcements. Chrysler has traditionally released their numbers at the same time as parent company Fiat. The Italian conglomerate will release their results on October 30th.

GM has announced its Q2 earnings [Analyst slides in PDF here], and the firm has recorded a healthy $2.5b profit for the quarter on strong North American performance and an end to losses from the European Opel division. In fact, on an EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) basis, all of GM’s global divisions were in the black last quarter, although GM Europe and GM South America both recorded modest $100m gains and GMIO (which includes the lucrative Chinese market) recorded a $600m EBIT. The powerhouse continues to be GM North America, which recorded $2.2b in EBIT, continuing North America’s post-bailout importance as the driver of GM’s financial results. Globally, a $600m reduction in EBIT due to costs and “other” was offset by the same amount of gains in volume/mix, while pricing added a billion dollars to overall EBIT. And though fleet sales were up in North America, incentives for the quarter appear to have hit record lows. [Hit the jump for global deliveries and market share/fleet data, via GM's financial highlights release].

Ford’s profitability outstripped even yesterday‘s $1.37b estimate, coming in at a whopping $1.68b, as Ford made mad money in the North American market in the 3rd Quarter of this year, for a fifth consecutive profitable quarter. Global revenue was down by about $1b, but excluding Volvo from Q33 2009 results, revenue was actually up $1.7b. $1.6b of Ford’s profitability came from North America, as its most crucial market carried the company over weak overseas results. And with $900m in positive cash flow, Ford says its “automotive cash” will equal its debt by the year’s end, sooner than it had previously forecast. Ford paid of $2b of its revolving credit line last quarter, and plans to pay off the final $3.6b it owes the UAW VEBA trust in Q4. By the end of the year, Ford estimates it will have reduced its overall debt by $10.8b over the course of 2010. Hit the jump for a few key slides from Ford’s Q3 financial presentation.

Ford’s complete slide set can be found here in PDF format, but we’ve assembled a few of the most telling slides here.

Clearly North America is where it’s happening for Ford.

But where is Ford pulling those profits from? Volume and market share are up, and as identified yesterday, Net Pricing is a major contributor. Selling Fiestas for more than the cost of a Corolla is a great way to inflate already-healthy profits. But mix is important as well. Much of Ford’s volume gains have been in profitable trucks, as the F-Series is having one of its better years in some time.

After all, Ford’s North American market share actually declined significantly in the third quarter… but its retail share actually increased. This seems to prove that Ford is getting off the fleet-sales jag that has brought overall sales levels up, and has particularly buoyed the Detroit firms. And why not? Ford is making enough money due to consumers choosing its more profitable products, and by securing better transaction prices for its vehicles. Though Ford ran at 30 percent fleet for most of the year, it hasn’t seemed to hurt demand, and Ford’s proving that it can lay off the “empty calorie” volume and focus on making money.

And making money it is. If Ford can end the year with more cash than debt and keep its sales and pricing momentum up into next year, when key products like the 2012 Focus launch, it will cement the Blue Oval’s status as the Detroit automaker to beat.

GM has released its Q2 earnings, and it’s pulled off a $1.3b net profit on improved North American revenue, and narrower losses on GM Europe. Revenues for GM International, however, were down to about half of their Q1 level. Despite over $1b in capital expenditures last quarter, GM  managed to improve free cash flow from $970m in Q1 to $2.834b in Q2. Full chart packet available in .doc format here, presentation slides available in PDF format here.

GM’s North American deliveries rose to 716,000 in Q2, and were composed almost entirely of “core brand” sales (old brands totaled 8k deliveries). Market share in NA rose to 18.7% (from 17.8% in Q1), wile US core brand share rose from 18.1 to 19.3%. As the slide above shows, volume increases were spurred on by incentive spending, but GM insists that incentives are mostly aimed at clearing out 2010 inventory. Moreover, GM insists that retail transaction prices are up considerably, although they are compared to Q2 2009 numbers, and there’s no indication that the Q2 jump in incentive spending has been accompanied by a rise in transaction prices over the same period.

And then there’s the fleet issue. Averaged over the first half of this year, GM says its fleet business runs at about 33 percent of deliveries, which is actually slightly higher than the number given recently by Automotive News [sub]. GM says the plan is to bring its fleet business down to 25-27 percent for the full year. But perhaps more damning than sheer fleet volume alone is the kind of fleet volume GM delivered. Two thirds of its fleet business went to daily rental fleets, which are largely considered to have the worst effects on resale and brand equity. GM says compact and midsized cars make up the bulk of that business.

Overseas, GM still faces some serious challenges. GM Europe continues to log consistent losses, and though GM insists that GME is approaching break-even at current industry volumes, it says that restructuring costs will keep GME in the red on a quarterly basis for the rest of the year. Expect $200m-$300m in quarterly losses, which are considerably lower than previous GME losses. But the European woes were expected… slowdowns at the previously white-hot GM International are more surprising.

With the Chinese market down five percent, and GM’s market share there down two percent, The General reckons inventories and price pressure are building in China. Nobody’s freaking out about a bursting bubble, but Chinese-market news had a strangely sober tone. Same with Brazil, where GM admits that competitors beat it with new products and unexpected deals, dropping GM’s market share by over one point. Indian market share fell from 4.2 percent to 4 percent. Still, GM expects healthy growth from its International division and the markets it serves.

Overall, GM expects its financial performance to moderate over the second half of the year. Strong inventory builds in Q1, and strong lease return adjustments in Q2 were singled out as contributing to GM’s strong H1 performance, and CFO Chris Liddell warned that these factors should not be expected to play a role in the second half. Capital Expenditures increased from $800m in Q1 to $1.1b in Q2, and GM expects to shell out $5b-$5.5b in CapEx over the course of 2010. GM did say that it can expand capacity by 30-40 percent without major fixed-cost increases, which puts it on a steady course for growth.

All told, GM appears to be on a solid footing, although major issues remain. With the announcement of Ed Whitacre’s retreat from power, the question is whether GM’s new Chairman/CEO will enjoy solid North American performance, and can wean GM off its daily rental fleet sales and still-high incentives. Meanwhile, Europe remains an open wound with little sign of improvement in the short-to-medium-term, and GMIO is showing the first signs of weakness in years. The temptation at this point is to minimize the impacts of these challenges and keep GM cruising along at a solidly profitable rate, but sustainable success requires a clear vision of problems looming on the horizon and proactive solutions to them. Whether Dan Akerson can provide this still remains very much to be seen.

Whereas Chrysler’s surprise operating profit in the first quarter of this year was achieved mainly through cost-cutting, GM’s just-announced Q1 profit comes on the strength of sales increases in most of its global markets. Though The General’s sales numbers are still lower than they need to be, momentum is headed in the right direction… albeit somewhat more slowly than had been hoped.

GM’s long-suffering North American operations came roaring back on the strength of major capacity reductions and steady sales improvements. GM’s NA capacity utilization hit 84.8 percent last quarter, up considerably from Q1 2009′s low of 37.7 percent. By volume, North American sales were up over Q1 2009 as well, with each of GM’s core brands gaining sales.

On face value, these numbers appear to be incredibly rosy for a North American division that was long supported by overseas operations. Digging a little deeper though, it seems that GM is actually just trading water in terms of market share. GM’s US car market share was down even compared to its miserable Q1 results, having lost about half a percent. Truck market share improved by .7 percent, leaving total US market share a wash compared to Q1 2009, at 18.4 percent.

Perhaps the most troubling numbers in GM’s Q1 results have to do with GM’s US retail/fleet mix. In Q1 2009, 20 percent of GM’s car business went to fleets; last quarter, that percentage doubled to 40 percent. Truck fleet percentages increased more moderately, from 15.2 percent to 24.5 percent. GM’s combined US fleet sales mix was 31 percent. That The General was able to turn a profit on its NA operations with those kinds of numbers shows that cost-cutting as well as a sales push were necessary for GM’s Q1 profit.

GM Europe remains the company’s most troubled division, losing half a percentage point of market share, and over half a billion dollars. Opel/Vauxhall shed about two thousand units compared to Q1 2009, while Chevrolet added about 7k units in Europe over the same period. GM’s “other” brands dropped another 8k units of volume, dragging the division to an overall decline.

GM International, which includes the growth markets of China and Latin America, improved its market share by .3 percent over its Q1 2009 result, despite steady increases in volume across all brands.

GM’s surrender of its majority stake in Shanghai GM did not prevent GM from recording the JV’s sales as part of its global market share, though its income from that venture only shows up in the heading “equity income, net of tax,” which contributed $403m to the bottom line. Though Chinese sales are showing signs of slowing since the end of Q1, GM stands by its prediction that its sales there will exceed 2m units this year, according to Automotive News [sub].

More details on GM’s Q1 financial results following the company’s 1pm Eastern conference call.

The Ford Motor Company released its first quarter earnings today [Full report here, Slide presentation here (both PDF)], revealing that it gained over $2b in net profit on rising revenue and improved operating margins. Sales receipts rose to over $28b, and with each of Ford’s regional units posted operating profits, Ford’s gross automotive cash rose by $400m to $25.3b (although operating cash flow was $100m in the red). North American operations earned $1.2b in pre-tax operating profit, South America earned $203m, Europe recorded $107m and Asia-Pacific-Africa brought in $23m. Ford Credit racked up $828 in pre-tax profits, as lower depreciation levels improved results. Despite these fine results, Ford finished the quarter with $34.3b in automotive debt, a $700m increase from the beginning of the year. Ford paid $492m in interest on that debt in the first quarter.

Improvements in revenue and profitability are cause for celebration in Dearborn, but negative cash flow and increases in debt are niggling concerns. Especially when Ford’s CFO Lewis Booth is warning that these Q1 results are better than he expects for the rest of this year. Booth tells the Freep:

It would be unwise to think of the $2 billion as a running rate for the year

Ultimately though, Ford’s sales are up, and results are improving across the company’s global operations, meaning Booth still expects profits, albeit smaller ones, this year. And Ford isn’t trying to hide its optimism, increasing production goals by 30k units in the second quarter. Meanwhile, with 45 cents per share in earnings, Ford’s Q1 results beat Wall Street’s expectations, meaning the company’s stock should stay buoyant. Right now, that’s about all an automaker can ask for.

GM has announced its “fresh-start” post-bankruptcy accounting results, and between July and December of last year, the bailed-out automaker lost $4.3b [press release here, full numbers here, in PDF format]. The loss comes despite $57.5b in global revenue, and $1b in “net cash provided by operating activities.” According to GM’s release:

The $4.3 billion net loss includes the pre-tax impact of a $2.6 billion settlement loss related to the UAW retiree medical plan and a $1.3 billion foreign currency re-measurement loss.

Of course, you have to dig into the numbers to find the bad news, like the $56.4b in “cost of sales,” or the $700m interest cost, or the 48 percent North American capacity utilization in 2009, or the 16.3 percent US car market share. Which is why we’ve included the consolidated statement of operations, consolidated balance sheets and more, for your no-download-necessary perusal, after the jump.

Ohio.com reports that GM will miss a March 31 deadline for filing its first GAAP-compliant financial results since emerging from bankruptcy. According to an SEC 10k filing:

General Motors Company (the “Company”) is unable to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 (the “2009 Form 10-K”) by March 31, 2010, as the Company is still finalizing its fresh-start adjustments required by generally accepted accounting principles relating to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed from General Motors Corporation (“Old GM”) in connection with Old GM’s sale of assets under Section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “363 Sale”) prior to such date. Due to the size of the Company, the global application of fresh-start reporting and the associated determination of the fair value of its assets and liabilities is a significant undertaking, which requires extra time

GM says it will be able to file within a 15 day extension period, which means there’s not too much longer to wait before we have our first “real” measure of GM’s post-bankruptcy performance. And because GM’s last results were accompanied by warnings that Q4 2009 results could be worse than November’s non-GAAP numbers (not to mention recent soft-pedaling by CFO Chris Liddell), there’s reason to believe that they won’t be particularly pretty. Either way, GM can only delay their release for so long. As 60 percent stakeholders in the artist formerly known as the world’s largest automaker, taxpayers have the right know just how their “investment” is panning out. I guess we’ll be seeing GM in line at the post office just before the midnight on the 15th.

Even in the few months I’ve been here, I’ve been encouraged by the progress we’ve made, but when it will all come together is impossible to say… We’ll do it when we’re ready

The Ford Motor Company [full results in PDF format here] earned net income of $2.7b last year, on pre-tax operating profits of $454m. The company enjoyed a strong fourth quarter with $868m in net income and an after-tax operating profit of $1.6b (excluding special items). Ford Motor Credit [full release in PDF format here] earned $1.3b in net income and $2b in pre-tax operating profit last year. Ford Credit’s receivables were down at the end of 2009 compared to 2008, with $93b receivable compared to $116b at the end of 2008, and leverage of 7.3 to 1.

Ford Motor’s revenue actually fell by about $20b in 2009, but profit was achieved through some $5b in

Automotive structural cost reductions… reflecting primarily lower manufacturing and engineering costs, a reduction in pension and retiree health care expenses, and lower advertising and sales costs as Ford completed major restructuring actions.

But if you break Ford’s operating profit down, it’s clear that the automotive sector still loses money (about $1.4b last year on $3oom cash burn), and relied on about $1.8b in financial services sector profit to clear the $454m operating profit number. Nearly half a billion dollars on an operating basis is still profit, but the core business clearly still has some signs of weakness.

The flip side to this is the fact that Ford closed the year strong with impressive fourth quarter results. The fourth quarter saw huge improvements in revenue ($35.4b) and automotive sector operating results (over $1b) compared to 2009 as a whole.

North American operations saw its revenue rise about $4.5b to $15.8b, on $707m operating profit. South America and Europe had operting gains in the $300m range on revenue improvements of about a billion dollars each. Africa/Asia Pacific continues to be a disappointing sector for Ford, with operating profit of under $20m only modest improvements in revenue. Meanwhile, Volvo got its act together, losing “only” $32m on an operating basis, which compares nicely to 2008′s $736m loss.

Ultimately, Ford ended the year with $25.5 billion of Automotive gross cash and $34.3 billion in Automotive debt. Still,

As a result of Ford’s 2009 U.S. financial performance, the company will pay profit sharing to 43,000 eligible U.S. hourly employees consistent with the 2007 UAW-Ford Collective Bargaining Agreement. The average amount is expected to be approximately $450 per eligible employee.  As previously announced, Ford is not awarding salaried employee performance bonuses globally under the company’s bonus plan for 2009 company performance. However, the company did announce that U.S. salaried employees will receive merit increases in 2010, and the company’s 401(k) matching program was reinstated on Jan. 1, 2010.