Time to kick GM out of the Dow

CNN Money ^ | June 24, 2008 | Paul R. La Monica

[jalisco555]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Why is General Motors still in the Dow?

GM (GM, Fortune 500) may still be the biggest of the Big Three. But it's getting more and more difficult to justify keeping GM in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an exclusive list of what's supposed to be the 30 leaders in the U.S. markets and economy.

GM confirmed on Monday that it is looking into selling its Hummer brand of monstrously-sized vehicles. And in a major sign of desperation, it also announced that it would offer six-year, zero-percent loans for 2008 models until the end of June in an attempt to clear out inventory.

The stock traded close to a 33-year low on Monday, and the company now has a market value of about $7.5 billion, the lowest in the Dow. The next lowest is Alcoa...and it's still valued at $30.3 billion, more than four times as much.

Heck, even Ford has a bigger market value, at $11.9 billion.

[Cronos]

Maybe in the past they had bad management -- I think, in my opinion, that the current CEO is pretty good and he did manage to turn around GM ever so slightly but then got hit with high gas prices. All US manufacturers were counting too much on gas guzzlign SUVs, so no wonder Toyota is closing in on being number 1.

GM ought to bring the cars that are selling like hot cakes in China and India (I think they've had 25 to 30% year on year growth in those markets)

[Cronos]

you hit the nail squarely on the head -- folks no longer trust GM like they trust Toyota.

Also, you're right -- GM cars now match Toyota in quality.

I think GM can make a turn-around if it stops making fuel guzzler immediately and concentrates more on Chevvies. Remember that Hyundai, in the course of a decade, changed it's image from a really bad quality car to a Japanese-car level quality automaker

[Cronos]

For a roadster — how about an Audi TT? Or a BMW?

[Psycho_Bunny]

I love the TT in Forest Green and some of the M BMWs are pretty wicked but, I don't need speed and can't justify 50k for a car I might put a thousand miles on a year.

I live and work in downtown Seattle so I walk everywhere, only HAVING to drive once a month.

All the other times I need a car, I'm drunk, so I cab it.

[bert]

CNN is drivel.

[jalisco555]

Maybe in the past they had bad management -- I think, in my opinion, that the current CEO is pretty good and he did manage to turn around GM ever so slightly but then got hit with high gas prices. All US manufacturers were counting too much on gas guzzlign SUVs, so no wonder Toyota is closing in on being number 1.

Current management is terrible. CEO Rick Wagoner is a GM lifer. He was CFO before becoming CEO. His tenure at GM has coincided with the evaporation of GM's market share. When he became CEO it was 30%, now it's less than 20. The company hasn't been profitable in, I think, four years yet he took home $14.4 million last year, all the while talking about how GM line workers had to sacrifice. He's the classic inbred, out of touch CEO surrounded by yes-men. The company has no chance to turn around under his leadership.

[Oatka]

GM drove away a lot of people with decades of subpar automobiles.

Right on. I remember back in the 70s, we were talking about lemons we had run in to and one guy said, "I'm lucky. I must have got a Wednesday car." We asked him what he meant and he said that the auto workers were all hung over from the weekend and it took two days for them to come out of it. In the meantime they didn't give a damn and turned out a car/truck that was shoddy. On Thursday and Friday they were looking forward to the weekend. In the meantime . . . Thus, the only time a good car came off the line was Wednesday. I thought at the time that was a Helluva commentary on American workmanship.

Unions weren't the only problem however. While Michael Moore is rightly on the S%^t List, his "Roger and Me" gave a scathing view of GM management and the damage they did in their downsizing. Not really a documentary, more of a movie in that chronology is out of whack and scenes are staged. There is one unstaged scene, though, that has always stuck in my mind and IMO epitomizes Corporate America's view of the people who work for them.

Upper management throws a posh party and while all the self-styled Brahmins wander around with drinks in their hands and mouth inanities, they pass "living statues". They hired some of the workers they had just laid off for the part. To me, it was a wonder one of those "statues" didn't break out an Uzi and clean out the stable.

[jalisco555]

“As General Motors goes, so goes the Nation”. True?

Not any more. However, a GM liquidation (and don't think that that is impossible) would have enormous implications for the economy and the lives of hundreds of thousands.

[RightWhale]

$179 billion sales should not be ignored.

[jalisco555]

$179 billion sales should not be ignored.

When you're paying out more than you're taking in, year after year, it doesn't matter how much you're taking in. It's profits that matter, not sales. And GM hasn't got those.

[Cronos]

what do you think of people who denigrate Japanese cars as rice-burners?

[FewsOrange]

GM’s market cap may be small but it is still a huge part of the economy. Here is the top 10 by revenue.

1 Wal-Mart Stores 378,799.00
2 Exxon Mobil 372,824.00
3 Chevron 210,783.00
4 General Motors 182,347.00
5 ConocoPhillips 178,558.00
6 General Electric 176,656.00
7 Ford Motor 172,468.00
8 Citigroup 159,229.00
9 Bank of America Corp. 119,190.00
10 AT&T 118,928.00

[Cronos]

All the other times I need a car, I'm drunk, so I cab it.

:)

[Cronos]

thanks - I did not know that.

[jalisco555]

“As General Motors goes, so goes the Nation”. True?

Geez, I hope not.

"GM Plunges to 1974 Lows"

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/transportation/gm-plunges--lows/

[RightWhale]

When everybody says ‘bail out’ that is a fine time to take another look.

[jalisco555]

When everybody says ‘bail out’ that is a fine time to take another look.

That's true when a company realizes it has a problem and takes steps to correct it. Think IBM bringing in Gerstner, Apple bringing back Jobs or Ford bring in Mulally. Those would have been great times to buy. Problem is, there's no evidence that GM is prepared to make that kind of move to save itself. The stock just keeps falling. Hard to know where the bottom is.

[upsdriver]

I owned a ‘91 Chevy Caprice. We put over 240,000 miles on it and never had a major repair on it of any kind. I have owned nothing but Chevys, Fords and Dodges.

[TexasRepublic]

what do you think of people who denigrate Japanese cars as rice-burners?

I don't give much thought or worry what other people think. I march to a different drummer on a lot of issues. That's why I'll definitely flunk in reeducation camps -- I have an "incorrect" attitude.

[RightWhale]

Buy on rumor, sell on news.