On Thursday, GM reported its first annual profit in six years — earning $4.7 billion on $136 billion in sales — exceeding expectations and continuing its impressive rebound from government-assisted bankruptcy. Great news, right? Investors didn't see it that way: GM's stock plummeted 4.5 percent, to just pennies per share above its IPO price in November. Why didn't Wall Street applaud GM's comeback? (Watch a GM press conference)
This was the easy part: GM's $4.7 billion profit is certainly a "welcome departure from its recent track record," says Joann Muller at Forbes. But after its debt-cleansing 2009 trip through bankruptcy court, and a government bailout, "anything else would have been a disaster." It will take more time to convince investors that GM won't slip back into its old, money-burning ways.
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