NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A return to profitability at Chrysler Group helped lift the company's German parent company DaimlerChrysler well above Wall Street expectations for the first quarter.

The Stuttgart, Germany-based company earned 1.0 billion ($887 million), excluding special items. That compares with a loss of 610 million ($547.8 million) in the year-earlier period.

Earnings per share came to 44 cents, excluding the special items, which easily topped the 28 cent a share forecast and the loss of 33 cents a share a year earlier.

Despite the results, American depositary shares of DaimlerChrysler (DCX: down $0.97 to $45.62, Research, Estimates) were lower in mid-day U.S. trading Thursday.

Including special items, such as a gain from the sale of a German unit, the company posted net income of $2.3 billion, or $2.31 a share, in the most recent quarter.

Much of the improvement came at the company's North American operations, the Chrysler Group, which posted an operating profit of $111 million, after a loss of about $1.2 billion in the year-earlier period.

The overall company saw revenue increase 4 percent to $32.2 billion, and posted a 7 percent increase when adjusted for changes in the consolidated group.

Chrysler Group saw a 17 percent increase in revenue to $13.9 billion, despite a 7 percent decrease in vehicles sold in the quarter 675,800. But a better mix of vehicles sold plus the appreciation of the dollar versus the euro, which is the currency used by DaimlerChrysler in its accounting, helped lift the revenues and overall results.

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Dieter Zetsche, CEO of the Chrysler Group, called the first quarter an important one in the company's turnaround plans for the unit announced a year ago. The continued strong demand for cars in the U.S. market may allow Chrysler to do better than breakeven, which was the goal announced for 2002 when the turnaround plan was originally announced. The company had shied away from predicting a full-year profit for Chrysler Group as recently as April 10, when it announced the North American unit would be in the black in the first quarter.

The company said that demand for Chrysler products is strong and that low inventory levels heading into the quarter would lead most of its plants to be working overtime to produce vehicles in the quarter.

The company did not give any specific earnings guidance for the second quarter or 2002, saying there is too much uncertainty despite encouraging signs of an economic recovery. It cited unstable political situation in some regions and a potential labor dispute in Germany that could hit its results.