By Mike Colias

General Motors Co. said it expects to hit the high end of its estimated 2021 profit range, as strong pricing and brisk new-vehicle demand helped offset the financial impact of a vexing chip shortage.

GM reiterated its guidance Wednesday while reporting first-quarter net profit of $3.02 billion, up from about $300 million a year earlier, when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted operations. The company said the semiconductor shortage will hurt second-quarter output but that it will continue to give priority to its most profitable vehicles, large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

The nation's largest auto maker by sales said pretax profit adjusted for one-time items hit $4.42 billion, equivalent to $2.25 a share. That beat the $1.05 average estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

GM said it is confident that it will hit the high end of its previously issued guidance of $10 billion to $11 billion for the year, even as the impact from the semiconductor shortage cuts as much as $2 billion from the bottom line.

Shares rose about 3% in premarket trading.

Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-05-21 0828ET