General Motors Co. (GM), the largest U.S. automaker, said first-quarter profit more than tripled to its highest in at least 21 years as sales rose in its home market and China. Net income climbed to $3.37 billion, or $1.77 a share, from $1.07 billion, or 55 cents, a year earlier, Detroit-based GM said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 95 cents a share, topping the 91-cent average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales rose 15 percent to $36.2 billion. GM, helped by its operations in China and rising U.S. deliveries, is poised to reclaim the global auto sales lead from a Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) rattled by the earthquake in Japan and reports of slipping quality. The quarterly profit is GM’s fifth straight and its largest net income since at least 1990. “From our point of view, it’s a solid quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said today. “It’s good progress. It sets up a good foundation for the rest of the year.” GM rose 24 cents to $33.28 at 7:33 a.m. in trading before the regular open of the New York Stock Exchange. GM’s U.S. sales climbed 25 percent to 592,545 light vehicles in the first quarter, according to Autodata Corp., a researcher based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. Treasury Stake The U.S. Treasury Department, which owns 33 percent of GM, plans to evaluate the earnings before deciding whether to sell more of its investment, a person familiar with the matter said last month. The department wants to sell its stake for at least the IPO price and would prefer to sell in the high-$30 range, a person familiar with the matter has said. The U.S. took a 61 percent ownership of GM as part of the automaker’s government-led bailout and bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. The Treasury sold shares equal to a 28 percent stake during the November IPO of the company. The department can sell more shares starting May 22. GM may retake the crown for most global auto sales from Toyota this year, said Jeff Schuster, executive director of forecasting for J.D. Power & Associates, a research firm in Westlake Village, California. Toyota has lost production because of plant shutdowns following the earthquake. GM also is better positioned to expand sales in China, he said. All three major U.S. automakers were profitable in the first quarter. Ford Motor Co. (F)’s net income in the period rose 22 percent to $2.55 billion. Chrysler Group LLC reported a profit of $116 million, its first quarterly net income since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009. To contact the reporter on this story: David Welch in Detroit at dwelch12@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net

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