General Motors' earnings and market share were down in 2012 despite a better year for car sales in the U.S., a combination that soured Wall Street on the automaker's fourth quarter and year-end earnings report.
The U.S. automaters's first-quarter net income totaled raced to $1.77 per share -- one of its best performances since the SUV boom in the early 2000s. It was GM's fifth straight quarterly profit since late 2009, the year it emerged from bankruptcy.
With just days to go before its anticipated initial public offering of stock, General Motors reported Wednesday that it earned $2 billion in the third quarter, its most profitable this year.
