General Motors Shares See Downside Following Strong Q2 Results

Detroit auto-maker General Motors Company GM released its fiscal Q2 earnings results on Thursday before the opening bell. The company reported both adjusted earnings per share and revenue that beat Wall Street analysts' consensus expectations.

The stock traded up sharply in the pre-market session, but most of those gains were erased by the end of the regular session. The stock finished the day up a little less than 2 percent to $32.03 after climbing almost 6 percent to $33.30 in pre-market trading.

For the quarter, General Motors reported earnings per share of $1.86, which was a 44 percent increase compared to the $1.29 the company reported in the year-ago quarter. This also came in significantly ahead of analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 per share.

Revenue surged to $42.5 billion from $38.2 billion in last year's second-quarter. This also easily beat Wall Street consensus expectations of $38.91 billion in sales. The strong performance was driven in part by record vehicle sales in China.

Investors were also buoyed by General Motors forward looking outlook, with the company now expecting adjusted earnings per share of $5.50-$6.00 compared to a previous range of $5.25 to $5.75. The current consensus EPS estimate on the Street is $5.65.

"This was an outstanding quarter for GM. Our results were generated by strong retail sales in the U.S., record sales in China and a continued emphasis on improving the performance of our operations worldwide. We'll continue to focus on driving profitable growth and leveraging our technical expertise to lead in the future of personal mobility," said Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.