Despite a Great Year, GM is Still Trailing Japanese Counterparts Like Toyota

Excerpt from our One-Page WSJ Summary:

HEARD ON THE STREET: GM's Momentum Could Stall in Second Half

Summary: General Motor's (GM) turnaround saw another milestone yesterday as its shares traded at a 52-week high of $33.97 during intra-day trading before settling at $33.50, up 24 cents. Still, many investors feel the stock's fundamentals are worsening, while questioning GM's ability to sustain its improving revenue structure -- the company has increased its per-vehicle revenue by nearly $4,000 from the year-ago period -- especially now that the economy is showing signs of slowing down and GM has planned for significant production cuts in the second half of the year. Also, despite the revenue improvements, the company still lags far behind its Japanese counterparts. For example, despite dropping losses per-vehicle by nearly $1,000 from last year, GM still earns $2,000 less per vehicle than Toyota (TM), due to much higher employee health care costs and per-vehicle warranty costs. And this is all after narrowing the gaps significantly.
Related links: Full WSJ article • Message to GM Investors: Whoa! • Jerry Flint Believes Detroit's Luck Has Run Out • Kerkorian Files With SEC to Up His Stake in GM • Do You Believe in Miracles? Look at GM • Toyota Ups Guidance, Sets Global Production Targets • Toyota's Development Slowdown and Quality Improvement Are Smart Moves • GM Daewoo Matiz commercial for the Korean market
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Ford (F), Honda (HMC), DaimlerChrysler (DCX)

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