GM: No target for return to profits

General Motors Corp.’s first quarter loss — the biggest in 13 years — was about as bad as expected, but the company’s lack of guidance about the problems facing the world’s No. 1 automaker sent its stock skidding Tuesday.

GM said it lost $839 million, or $1.48 a share, excluding special items, in the quarter, versus profits of $1.3 billion, or $2.25 a share, a year earlier. GM had warned investors in March it expected to lose about $1.50 a share in the quarter on that basis. At the time, analysts had been looking for only a loss of 3 cents a share.