MidnightTrader Analyst Play: General Motors

General Motors (GM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) closed the regular session down 1% (at 17.42), adding to a downside that saw it lose 0.8% in today's pre-market session after it was downgraded by Citigroup to Hold from Buy.

Including today, we've tracked 11 analyst rating changes on GM over the last year and the stock is just favoring a widening pattern in its performance between the pre-market and following regular session. The stock has seen more aggressive follow-on regular session trade eight times on the heels of the 11 analyst-driven pre-market moves.

5/27/08 Pre-Market: -0.8%; 5/27/08 Regular Session: -1.0% at 17.42 - Citigroup downgrade to Hold from Buy.

2/25/08 Pre-Market: down at 23.60; 2/25/08 Regular Session: +0.04% at 24.09 - Deutsche Bank downgrades to Hold from Buy.

2/6/08 Pre-Market: decline to 26.16; 2/6/08 Regular Session: -2.5% at 25.81 - Bear Stearns downgrades to Underperform vs. Peer Perform.

11/29/07 Pre-Market: trades above 28.71; 11/29/07 Regular Session: +1.1% at 28.71 - Bear Stearns upgrade to Peer Perform from Underperform.

10/30/07 Pre-Market: up less than 1%; 10/30/07 Regular Session: +1.1% at 38.38 - UBS upgrade to Buy from Sell.

10/16/07 Pre-Market: -2%; 10/16/07 Regular Session: -3.7% at 39.58 - Bear Stearns lowers to Underperform from Peer Perform.

10/3/07 Pre-Market: +0.2%; 10/3/07 Regular Session: +1.4% - BofA upgrades to Neutral from Sell.

9/18/07 Pre-Market: -0.9%; 9/17/07 Regular Session: +1.5% at 35.78 - Goldman Sachs downgrade to Neutral from Buy.

9/13/07 Pre-Market: up less than 9%; 9/13/07 Regular Session: +9.6% at 33.15 - upgrade to Buy from Sell.

7/5/07 Pre-Market: down more than 4%; 7/5/07 Regular Session: -3.4% at 36.67 - Bear Stearns downgrades to Peer Perform from Outperform.

6/25/07 Pre-Market: +3.1%; 6/25/07 Regular Session: +2% at 36.18 - Goldman Sachs upgrade to Buy from Neutral.

Brooks McFeely is widely regarded as the leading expert on extended-hours trading. He is a Managing Partner for Brochet Capital Partners, LP and the founder of Midnight Trader, Inc. (www.midnighttrader.com), the leading provider of pre-market and after-hours trading analysis and news to retail and institutional investors.