GM posts strong profit as North America, Europe better than expected

General Motors Co posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as its North American business was better and its loss in Europe was smaller than Wall Street estimated.

Net income attributable to common stockholders fell to $865 million, or 58 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with $1 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

The latest quarter included a $162 million noncash charge for the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency.

Excluding one-time items, GM earned 67 cents, topping the analysts' estimate of 54 cents, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 2.4 percent from last year to $36.9 billion, and was just above the Wall Street target of $36.6 billion.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman and Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)