GM Crushes Sales Records and 4 Hot Stocks Demanding Investor Attention

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) reported robust sales for December with new vehicle sales rising 1.9% compared to the year earlier. The company sold 214,222 vehicles compared to 210,140 a year ago. While overall car sales during December were up 23%, truck sales and utility vehicles since fell 7.2% and 3% respectively.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported a 12% increase in its net sales for the five weeks ended December 30 at $11.21 billion. Comparable sales during December rose 8% in the US and 10% internationally resulting in a company-wide growth of 9%.

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SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) is trading higher by over 26% on reports of its sale of the 579 MW Antelope Valley solar projects in Kern and Los Angeles counties to Warren Buffett-owned Mid-American Energy Holdings Co (NYSE:BRKA). Sun Power will be paid between $2 billion to $2.5 billion to build these projects for Mid-American over three years and thereafter will operate and maintain that over a multi-year period. According to analysts, the deal will enable SunPower maintain healthy capacity utilisation levels despite oversupply conditions across the solar industry.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA) now boasts a new type of drill ship that can help extract oil from hitherto inaccessible ocean depths. The Noble Bully 1 weighs in over 30,000 tons, is as long as two football fields and can sink a 21.5-inch drill bit accurately to a target area within four square feet located many thousands of feet below the water surface. According to Shell, the Noble Bully 1 can drill over 40,000 feet below the sea floor. The technology behind the ship enables faster and safer drilling of wells at far lower cost than before. Shell co-owns the Noble Bully 1 with Noble Corporation (NYSE:NE).

General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) announced the company’s highest December sales in five years including being the best retail sales month of 2012. Overall sales were up 4.9% to 245,733 vehicles. Total passenger car sales in December were up 14% year-on-year. Combined mini small and compact car sales were higher by 52% with the Chevrolet Volt posting a growth of 72% and the Cruze 27%.

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