General Motors (GM) has issued fourth-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street forecasts across the board and issued strong forward guidance, sending its share price up 7%.
The Detroit automaker has reported Q4 2023 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.24 U.S. versus $1.16 U.S. that had been the consensus expectation among analysts.
Revenue in the quarter totaled $42.98 billion U.S. versus $38.67 billion U.S. that had been estimated. Sales at the company were flat from a year earlier.
General Motor’s North American earnings were down 45% during Q4 from a year earlier at $2.01 billion U.S., due largely to a strike by the company’s unionized workers last fall.
The company’s international earnings declined by 1.1% to $269 million U.S. in the quarter.
China, which is General Motor’s second-largest market, saw a 54% decline in equity income during Q4 of last year. China is going through a pronounced economic slowdown.
Looking ahead, General Motors said that it expects earnings per share of $8.50 U.S. to $9.50 U.S. and free cash flow of $8 billion U.S. to $10 billion U.S. for all of 2024.
The earnings guidance is better than the company’s 2023 results and higher than Wall Street forecasts that had called for flat results this year.
General Motors said that it expects to spend $1 billion U.S. less this year on its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise.
The Cruise unit remains under several state and federal investigations following an accident last October involving a pedestrian in San Francisco.
Company executives acknowledged that the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. has been slower than expected but said they remain committed to expanding EV sales.
General Motor’s EV sales totaled 75,883 units, or 2.9% of the company’s overall sales, in 2023. Most of those sales came from the company’s now discontinued Chevrolet Bolt models.
Prior to today, the stock of General Motors had declined 3% over the last 12 months to trade at $35.39 U.S. per share.
