Is GM Any Closer to Becoming the Company It Once Was?

The signs that General Motors (NYSE:GM) has gotten its business back on solid footing are mounting. Even though the automaker reported weaker-than expected quarterly profit on Thursday, shares had advanced close to 45 percent in the six-month period ahead of its fourth quarter earnings release, and the automobile industry has shown itself to be on stable ground, with GM predicting industry-wide growth of 7 percent for the year.

On Thursday, GM gave another indication that the it was slowly transforming itself back into the company it was once.

Chief Financial officer Dan Ammann told reporters from Reuters that the Detroit company had completed its repurchase of a 1 percent stake in Shanghai GM, a deal that the Chinese government consented to last year…