General Motors Co. today reported a quarterly profit as the Detroit-based automaker maintained output of high-profit trucks and SUVs despite a global shortage of semiconductors. The company also boosted its 2021 forecast.
GM posted a second-quarter profit of $2.8 billion, or $1.90 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $758 million, or 56 cents.
2020’s second-quarter results were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, then in its early months. Factories were shut during much of that period as GM implemented new safety procedures.
Revenue for this year’s second quarter surged to $34.2 billion compared with $16.8 billion a year earlier.
GM managed “the complex and fluid global semiconductor shortage, while prioritizing our highest-demand, capacity-constrained products,” CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.
The computer chip shortage has bedeviled automakers globally. Semiconductors for the auto industry are a lower priority for chip producers compared with products such as computers and smartphones. Like other automakers, GM has implemented temporary shutdowns at some assembly plants.
GM raised its full-year forecast for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion. That compares with a previous forecast of $10 billion to $11 billion.
Barra also said GM is accelerating its investment in electric vehicles by $8 billion to $35 billion from 2020 to 2025. GM plans to introduce more than 30 EV models in the U.S. and China by 2025.
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