Tag Archives: General Motors

Auto Sales Forecast To Tank In April

Financial Markets, Housing Market, Market Manipulation, U.S. Economy, , , , , ,

JD Powers and LMC Automotive are projecting auto sales to drop 8% in April from a year-ago April:

For much of the past two years, the discounts offered by automakers have remained at levels that industry analysts say are unsustainable and unhealthy in the long term…Sales are expected to drop further in 2018 as interest rates rise and more late-model used cars return to dealer lots to compete with new ones. – April Auto Sales Forecast

General Motors reported lousy Q1 numbers this morning. Revenues dropped 3.2% year over year in Q1. Revenues would have been worse but GM joined the rest of the country and extended financing to future deadbeats who took out loans greater than their annual pre-tax income in order to buy a pick-up truck. In other words, GM’s financing unit generated 25% growth in revenues, which cushioned drop in GM’s automotive revenues. Operating income fell off a cliff, plunging nearly 80% vs. Q1. Because of GAAP manipulations, EBIT was down only 55% from Q1 2017.

BUT, GM was credited with a headline “beat” of the Street’s earnings estimates. Only in America can a company’s operating numbers go down the drain and yet still be credited with a headline GAAP-manipulated net income “beat.” I find much humor in this absurdity. Others might find it, upon close examination, to be pathetic or even tragic. Given the forecast for April automotive sales, at least now we know GM announced earlier this month why it will begin to report auto sales on a quarterly basis instead of monthly.

The economy is much weaker than the narrative promoted aggressively by Wall Street, DC and the financial media. This tweet from @RudyHavenstein captures perfectly the divergence between moronic mainstream financial media and Main Street reality. We’re bombarded daily with propaganda about the healthy economy. Yet plenty of statistics show that the average household in this country is struggling under a mountain of debt and is living paycheck to paycheck.

This mostly explains the why credit card debt hits a new record high every month now. The average household is using revolving credit to help make ends meet. The only problem is that, in aggregate, the credit debt is not getting paid down. Rather, it’s increasing by the day. To compound the problem, credit card issuers are aggressive about jacking-up rates when the Fed funds rate is rising. I have a friend who has a 670 FICO score and recently used a loan to buy a car. The interest rate on the loan is 8%. This means that credit cards in general are charging rates in the mid-to-high teens to users with a sub-720 credit score. The outstanding balance will double in 5 years for a card-user who only pays the minimum amount each month on a card with a 15% interest rate. The only problem: that user will likely default before the balance doubles.

But why listen to the Orwellian propagandists?  Just follow the money from corporate insiders: The graphic to the right shows the ratio of insider sells to buys. When the ratio is under 12:1, it’s considered “bullish.” When the ratio is over 20:1, it’s considered bearish. In the last couple of weeks, the ratio has spiked up over 35.

It would seem the Atlanta Fed agrees with the assessment that the economy is far weaker than is being promoted by politicians and Wall Street. Back in February, the Atlanta Fed was forecasting Q1 2018 GDP to be 5.4%. Since then the Atlanta Fed has cut lowering its forecast almost weekly. This past week it chopped its Q1 GDP forecast down to 1.9%.

How can you profit from this insight?   I’ve been presenting several “off the radar” short-sell ideas in my Short Seller’s Journal from which myself and several subscribers are making a quiet killing.  Right now the easiest money to be made in the market is shorting homebuilders.  I have have a subscriber who made 150% on DHI puts in the first 30 minutes of trading today. I have another subscriber who is short Lending Tree (TREE) from $340.  I got this email from him today, with the stock down $42 to $264:  “The TREE keeps on giving. Many thanks!”

Every time the market bounces now, or when individual “daytrader/algo” stocks pop on headline “beats,” it creates an opportunity to make easy money shorting stocks or buying puts.  The Short Seller’s Journal provides unique insight to the economic data and corporate earnings – insight you’ll never get from so-called financial “experts.”  SSJ then offers ideas every week for making money on this insight.   To learn more, click here:  Short Seller’s Journal subscription information. This week I’ll be presenting an oldie but goodie short that soared today on tepid numbers (no, it’s not Facebook).

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March Auto Sales: Fundamental Weakness Belies The Headline Reports

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I did an in-depth analysis of March auto sales reported last week.  While the month to month from February to March looked good in the headlines, the year over year sales increase was only 1%.  This increase was fueled by exceptionally heavy incentive promotions, dealer channel-stuffing and subprime auto loans.

I wrote an article for Seeking Alpha which analyzes the numbers on a much more in-depth and candid level than any Wall Street/financial media analyst.   You can read the article here:   LINK.

I recommended selling and/or short-selling GM in an article I wrote in early January.  At the time GM was trading a little over $40.  Since then the stock is down over 16%.  During the same period of time the S&P 500 is up over 2%.  Less than half of GM’s decline can be attributed to its recall problems.  Away from the obvious and exceedingly overvalued high tech momentum stocks, I think GM stock is one of the better short-sell plays in the market.  GM is the most widely held stock by the universe of hedge funds and if the market starts to get pummeled, there will be an avalanche of GM stock for sale.   It’s no coincidence that the Government unloaded the rest of its share just a couple months before the recall problems were disclosed.

The overarching issue here is that both housing and auto sales were the primary sources of any economic growth over the past 24 months.   As we’ve seen with retail sales, the average American household/consumer is tapped out.   This has very ominous implications for the U.S. economy, especially as the global economy is also starting to contract.