General Motors fourth-quarter profit misses analysts’ estimates

General Motors Co. announced that its fourth-quarter profit missed analysts estimates as the company lost money in Asia outside of China. In addition, General Motors paid higher taxes and underwent through some reorganization changes in Europe.

General Motors made an official statement today, saying that its profit, excluding one-time items, was estimated to 67 cents a share, trailing analysts estimates for an average 87 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Only a year earlier, the price of one share of the company was 48 cents. The report comes after Ford Motor Co. reported that its fourth-quarter results outstripped estimates.

General Motors Co.s Chief Financial Officer – Chuck Stevens, said that this result is due to a higher tax rate and reorganization costs in Germany. The company also announced that its International Operations, which include China, reported an adjusted EBIT of 208 million dollars, down from 676 million during the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding China, the unit lost about 200 million dollars, compared to a profit of 300 million dollars a year earlier.

Mary Barra, GMs current CEO, said in the companys statement: “Launches of some of the best vehicles in our history combined with significant improvements in our core business led to a solid year.” Barra took the position of Chief Executive Officer and a successor of Dan Akerson on January 15th.

GMs revenue increased from 39.3 billion dollars in 2012 to 40.5 billion dollars. However, it missed analysts estimates of 40.9 billion dollars. The adjusted earnings of the company in North America before interest and taxes jumped from 1.14 billion dollars to 1.88 billion dollars, compared to analysts forecasts for a 1.9-billion-dollar revenue in the region.

The full-year profit of General Motors Co. decreased from 6.19 billion dollars in 2012 to 5.35 billion dollars, and its fourth-quarter profit decreased from 1.19 billion dollars to 1.04 billion dollars.

Ryan Brinkman, who is one of the analysts working for J.P. Morgan, wrote a note to investors in January: “GM’s guidance is entirely relative to full-year 2013, meaning a beat or miss in 4Q would imply more flow-through to 2014 estimates.”

General Motors Co.s shares fell by 1.62% on Wednesday to settle the session at $35.24, marking a one-year change of +23.26%. According to CNNMoney, the 16 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for General Motors Co have a median target of $49.00, with a high estimate of $56.00 and a low estimate of $39.00. The median estimate represents a +39.05% increase from the last close.