NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - General Motors Corp. reported sharply improved second-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations for the period, although the company repeated earlier guidance for full-year results that would put it below current analysts' forecasts.

The world's leading automaker posted net income of $1.3 billion, or $2.43 a share, up from $610 million, or $1.26 a share, excluding special items a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had a consensus earnings-per-share forecast of $2.42, although it could not immediately say if those analysts were going to exclude a 10-cent-a-share charge for changes in European operations that were included in the company's net income figure, so the company beat the estimate by either 1 cent or 11 cents.

Profit from North American auto operations more than doubled to $1.2 billion from $521 million a year earlier, and the company shaved European losses by 25 percent to $115 million. Results from Hughes and financing operations were essentially unchanged, but the company had a $73 million loss in Latin America compared with $31 million income a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $48.3 billion from $46.1 billion as the number of vehicles sold worldwide increased 3 percent to 2.2 million from 2.1 million a year earlier. A 12.6 percent sales increase in its core North American market overcame declines in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The company said it now expects third-quarter earnings per share of about 80 cents, excluding special items but including results of Hughes Electronics, which it is in the process of selling. That is just below the First Call EPS forecast of 81 cents. The company also repeated its earlier guidance that it expects full-year earnings including Hughes but excluding special items of $5.60 a share, also below First Call's forecast of $5.83.

With that guidance, shares of GM (GM: Research, Estimates) fell about 3 percent in morning trading.

Some analysts have raised concerns in the last week that the overall stock market losses would cause profit problems for GM due to its large pension fund obligations. The company announced an additional $1 billion cash contribution to one of its pension funds, on top of a previously announced $2.2 billion contribution.

But the company said its liquidity position improved by $300 million during the quarter to $2.6 billion despite those contributions. And Chief Financial Officer John Devine told analysts that the value of the pension funds' assets were off only about 3 percent since the start of the year, despite steeper declines in U.S. equity markets.

"Our U.S. equity exposure is below 40 percent," he said. "Our bond portfolio and real estate portfolio helps to mitigate the decline. Our cash requirements are probably below what a lot of people have been estimating."

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Devine did warn that the company will likely be writing down its investment in European automaker Fiat (FIA: Research, Estimates), in which it bought a 20 percent stake for $2.4 billion in 2000. He said the size of that charge will be determined later in the third quarter.

Devine said both GM and industry sales are off to a good start in July, and that much of the pressure on pricing is being mitigated by a better mix of vehicles for GM, especially with the sale of higher-priced light trucks.