GM Stock Drops Below $9.50; All Time Low Hits Home for Investors

[Ming]

9.52 -0.81 (-7.84%) Jul 10 11:30am ET

Open: 10.46
High: 10.46
Low: 9.46

Real Time: http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:GM

All-time-low stock prices for GM hits home for investors
by Kristin Longley | The Flint Journal

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- After nearly 43 years with the company, it was loyalty that convinced Douglas Smith to hold on to his General Motors stock, even when signs pointed to the contrary.

But after GM shares dropped earlier this week to a 50-year low, Smith and other local retirees are concerned about the company's future --and their nest eggs.

Shares on Monday hit $9.92, tying their lowest point since Sept. 13, 1954, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes.

The stock later rebounded to close Wednesday at $10.33, still low for shares that have traded as high as $43.20 in the past year.

Smith doesn't rely on his 2,500 shares for supplemental income -- he diversified long ago and his savvy wife is good with finances, he says -- but it bothers him to know his investment is down about $80,000. He might need that money some day.

"It hurts -- heck, I'm not rich," he said. "But it's a decision I made a long time ago and I'm sticking with it."

In a county where General Motors still reigns as the largest employer, any GM change ripples throughout the community. At its peak, the company employed 82,000 workers here.

And many people still carry GM stock, along with the deeply imbedded belief that the company will rebound.

"I still have faith," Smith said. "I hate to see it this low, but they may come back. Maybe not to their glory days, but you have to hope for the best."

People tend to invest in companies that are familiar to them, said Ken Duetsch, an executive at Citizens Bank. Duetsch and his colleagues began recommending years ago that local GM shareholders sell out of the stock, but many people wouldn't hear of it, he said.

"There's an emotional attachment to stock such as GM that runs deep," Duetsch said. "That home bias is strong here in Flint and in Michigan."

Delore Salsbury Hurley, financial consultant with Hilliard Lyons in Grand Blanc, said she advises people who rely on a company pension not to purchase stock with that company.

If the company sinks, "you don't want to be in a situation where you're suffering losses in monies outside of your pension," she said.

GM announced last month it would close four truck and sport utility vehicle plants -- sparing those in the Flint area -- and would boost production of several existing car models.

The company's future remains uncertain.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/bu...es_for_gm.html

Douglas Smith (left), a retired General Motors worker for 42 and a half years, drinks a cup of coffee while his wife Priscilla unloads a dishwasher Wednesday afternoon at their home in Swartz Creek. Smith's investment portfolio contains about one-third GM stock, which hit a 50-year low recently. "Heck, I never thought GM would be in the shape that it's in," said Smith. "You live on what you made and what you saved. You wonder if it's enough. You worry if it's enough."

[FenwickHockey65]

Oh...balls.



Maybe we should get the Cruze and Volt out a year earlier? As in for 2009?

[Ming]

Cruze, Beat, Volt. The 3 Musts to take GM beyond SUVs & Trucks and get the general public (not just long-time GM buyers) looking at GM again for cars that make sense with rising gas prices. After seeing the Cruze's awesome-looking interior, it can't get here quickly enough!

[mbukukanyau]

The dissapointing thing is GM is witholding the insignia for North America

[Hotspur]

Wachovia has taken large losses this year and just FIRED it's CEO and restructured management as a result. The market has responded positively that Wachovia has taken action!

GM has record breaking losses (year after year) and the Board does nothing...the UAW does nothing...the retirees do nothing...the suppliers, dealers do nothing.

Whatever mental illness has infected Detroit I hope it stays in Detroit.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Whatever mental illness has infected Detroit I hope it stays in Detroit.

This coming from someone in D.C., the heartland of ineffectiveness and inefficiency in America.

[detltu]

I'm still waiting for them to cut the dividend. That will really drop the stock.

[mike's 01ws6]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Wachovia has taken large losses this year and just FIRED it's CEO and restructured management as a result. The market has responded positively that Wachovia has taken action!

GM has record breaking losses (year after year) and the Board does nothing...the UAW does nothing...the retirees do nothing...the suppliers, dealers do nothing.

Whatever mental illness has infected Detroit I hope it stays in Detroit.

How can you compare GM to a bank, maybe you would have a point if you were writing about GMAC. Major concessions were made in the contract involving healthcare, wage structure, and the whole VEBA mess. What do you expect the retirees to do? The suppliers are in worse trouble than anyone else. And what do you want to dealers to do, kidnap customers? And the board has been shuffling people around for quite a while now. GM is still has a bloated management structure compared to Toyota and as far as I can tell it keeps getting worse. The whole core/non-core thing is going to allow GM to get the benefits of going to a modular build system without having to ship the parts in, and they are going to insource alot of the work they have outside suppliers doing now because the two-tier wage structure makes it cheaper to do it that way now, its takes a while to do these things, but they are happening.

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by K-1

This coming from someone in D.C., the heartland of ineffectiveness and inefficiency in America.

There's a can of worms we don't want to open up...

How about we let the US Congress manage GM?

[ronald mcretard]

Originally Posted by wescoent

There's a can of worms we don't want to open up...

How about we let the US Congress manage GM?

Yeah, and W will be looking for a job in a few months...

[XCR440SP]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Wachovia has taken large losses this year and just FIRED it's CEO and restructured management as a result. The market has responded positively that Wachovia has taken action!

GM has record breaking losses (year after year) and the Board does nothing...the UAW does nothing...the retirees do nothing...the suppliers, dealers do nothing.

Whatever mental illness has infected Detroit I hope it stays in Detroit.

I have to agree to an extent, GM need to fire Wagoneer and Lutz if for no other reson than to signify that they are done traveling the same path that got them in the bad situation their in. Look at Ford, they've got Mullaly, Farley and many other newe top level management, and are showing improvement, granted it may not be enough, but its better than anything GM can say right now.

GM needs some fresh eyes that haven't spent their whole career looking at the high profit truck/suv path and are fixated on it. I thought Ford was stupid for hiring Mulllay due to his lack of auto knowledge, but now I see that might be the best thing about him is that he doesn't have to do things just because "they've always been done that way" and can go a different route. We'll see how quick he gets his Superman Taurus out, at the rate its going he might beat the Camaro out and we've been looking at it for how many years?

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by ronald mcretard

Yeah, and W will be looking for a job in a few months...

So I suppose W would have been the CEO who brought out the Volt in 2003 to pre-emptively beat the new Prius to market, spent the next 4 years being ripped on because he cancelled the RWD Impala and Camaro to spend money on that, and urged by everyone to pull the Volt off the market so we could focus on trucks and SUVs?

Only to be validated in 2008 that his strategy worked out in the end, but would still be hated by everyone.

[hotrod1949]

Originally Posted by mike's 01ws6

How can you compare GM to a bank, maybe you would have a point if you were writing about GMAC. Major concessions were made in the contract involving healthcare, wage structure, and the whole VEBA mess. What do you expect the retirees to do? The suppliers are in worse trouble than anyone else. And what do you want to dealers to do, kidnap customers? And the board has been shuffling people around for quite a while now. GM is still has a bloated management structure compared to Toyota and as far as I can tell it keeps getting worse. The whole core/non-core thing is going to allow GM to get the benefits of going to a modular build system without having to ship the parts in, and they are going to insource alot of the work they have outside suppliers doing now because the two-tier wage structure makes it cheaper to do it that way now, its takes a while to do these things, but they are happening.

Unfortunately for Wagoner and co., we live in an I want it right now! world, and the changes aren't showing results quickly enough.
GM needs an earth shaking small car that people can't stop talking about (in a positive way), it is time to start over, build a customer base from the ground up, and hopefully save the business. They also need some fresh, young minds in positions of responsibility, people who are closer to the 20 and 30 somethings that GM needs to attract as customers.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by K-1

This coming from someone in D.C., the heartland of ineffectiveness and inefficiency in America.

Easy now - there are over six million residents in the DC metro area and we aren't all politicians!

[Beau]

Time to start thinking about buying soon.