GM profit nearly doubles on stronger global sales

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co's quarterly profit nearly doubled, beating expectations, as the top U.S. automaker took a larger share of sales in its home market and made gains in Europe and Asia.

Net income in the second quarter rose to $2.52 billion, or $1.54 per share, compared with $1.33 billion, or 85 cents per share, in the year earlier period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had expected $1.20 per share on average.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $39.4 billion, above the $36.74 billion analysts had expected during a quarter where U.S. auto sales hit a soft patch.

The results represent the second full quarter since GM's initial public stock offering last November and a restructuring intended to keep the largest U.S. automaker profitable throughout the industry's punishing boom-and-bust cycles.

GM emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 after a $52 billion taxpayer-funded bailout orchestrated by the Obama administration. The U.S. Treasury still owns 32 percent of GM's common shares.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman and Kevin Krolicki in Detroit; Editing by Derek Caney)