General Motors Co. posted strong fourth-quarter earnings and offered a bright profit outlook for this year despite an expected hit from a global semiconductor shortage.
The Detroit auto maker said Wednesday it expects lost production from an unfolding shortage of computer chips to erode its bottom line this year by $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
The amount is in line with the decline expected by rival Ford Motor Co. , which is among the many car companies that have been forced to cut output as demand for semiconductors has surged during the pandemic, leaving the auto industry to compete with other sectors for limited chip supplies.
Net income for GM’s September-to-December period was $2.85 billion, reversing a small loss from a year earlier, when a strike at its U.S. plants shaved off billions from its bottom line.
Its fourth-quarter pretax profit totaled $3.71 billion, a record for that quarterly period and up from a small gain in the year-earlier period. That amounted to $1.93 a share, better than the average analyst estimate of $1.60.
