Gm stock GM expects next year’s results to top 2025 earnings
DETROIT — General Motors Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Tuesday that the company expects its earnings next year to be better than 2025, which beat Wall Street expectations.
Investors were anticipating a reaction to 2026 estimates after the automaker reported third-quarter earnings that included raising 2025 estimates and outperforming Wall Street expectations.
“Looking into 2026, we have several options to maintain our current momentum, including progress on [electric vehicle] losses, warranty costs, tariff offsets, regulatory requirements, and fixed costs,” Jacobson said. “As a result, we expect next year to be even better than 2025.”
The company’s shares were trading more than 10% higher on Tuesday. The stock closed at $58 per share on Monday.
Jacobson also said the automaker will continue to repurchase shares, which the company has been aggressive in recent years. At the end of the third quarter, GM’s outstanding shares stood at $954 million, down 15% from a year earlier.
“We will continue to focus on business execution and execution of the plan, and that has worked very well for us and we expect it to continue through 2026,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson and GM CEO Mary Barra said the company’s top priority is to return adjusted profit margins in North America – its core market – to 8% to 10%, but they did not provide a timeframe for achieving this goal. Margins in the third quarter were 6.2%.
GM’s updated 2025 guidance includes adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $12 billion and $13 billion, or $9.75 to $10.50 adjusted EPS, up from $10 billion to $12.5 billion, or $8.25 to $10 adjusted EPS, and adjusted automotive free cash flow of $10 billion to $11 billion, up from $7.5 billion to $10 billion.
TD Cowen analyst Itay Miceli said in an investor note on Tuesday about 2026, “This commentary is encouraging and consistent with our view that the automaker can continue to deliver positive messages beyond 2025.”
RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said he expects analyst consensus for 2026 to “increase significantly” following the third-quarter results and adjusted guidance.
Michael Ward of Citi said the recent results and guidance indicate a major cultural shift for GM: “It used to be said that it’s difficult to get a large ship like GM back on track very quickly. Given the changing landscape, GM has found a way to get it back on track much faster than before.”