GM is making money again!

General Motors has announced its first quarter earnings, posting a profit of 865-million dollars, a good sign for both the company and the American taxpayer. This profit, combined with GM's latest loan repayment, is good news for everyone involved, including those who wanted nothing to do with owning part of GM in the first place.

Several investment firms are already bidding to help GM go public (IPO) in the upcoming quarters, at which point the government plans to release its remaining shares in the company, hopefully making enough money back to offset its 43-billion dollar 'loan' from early last year.

---------------------------------------------------

DETROIT -- General Motors Co. says it rode cost cuts and strong sales of new models to an $865 million first-quarter net profit, boosting its plans to go public as soon as this year.

The automaker said its operating profit from January through March was $1.2 billion. GM was able to match the industry's 16 percent U.S. sales gain in the first quarter of this year while selling Saab and winding down Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac.

The figures reinforce the projections of CEO Ed Whitacre, who said last month the quarter would show "solid operating results" and pave the way to a possible initial public stock offering late in 2010.

The U.S. Treasury Department is currently interviewing Wall Street bankers to advise the government on a GM IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported. Among the firms competing for the advisory role are Greenhill & Co, Lazard Ltd. and Perella Weinberg Partners, the newspaper said Saturday, citing sources.

Wall Street analysts have said investors would need to see two consecutive profitable quarters before an IPO could be successful.

In April, GM said it lost $4.3 billion between early July, when it emerged from bankruptcy largely owned by the U.S. and Canadian governments, and the end of 2009. The 2009 loss marked the fifth straight year without a profit.

GM also said last month it had fully repaid the balance on more than $8 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans extended as part of its bankruptcy. The repaying of the loans and the completion of the 2009 accounting results were two key steps GM needed to make toward launching an IPO.

In addition to the nearly $7 billion in direct loans to GM, the U.S. Treasury extended $43 billion in bailout cash in 2009 -- for a total $50 billion investment.

The potential loss on paper to taxpayers on GM alone was once thought to be as high as $30 billion, according to the White House budget office. The projected shortfall is now under $8 billion, according to market calculations.

Whitacre said last month he was optimistic the taxpayers would get all of their money back.

(Source: Automotive News, Subscription required)