The Zhitong Finance App learned that before the US stock market on October 20, General Motors (GM.US) announced financial results for the third quarter of 2026. Financial reports show that the company's quarterly revenue was US$50,015 million, up 2.9% year on year, higher than LSEG's agreed estimate of about US$48.7 billion; adjusted earnings per share were US$3.70, up 32.2% year on year, higher than the agreed forecast of US$3.63.
The company also announced that the board of directors approved a multi-year repurchase authorization of 20 billion US dollars, accounting for about 28% of the current market value, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share. CEO Marie Bora said in a letter to shareholders that the annual software and service deferred revenue is expected to be close to 7.5 billion US dollars, and Super Cruise's penetration rate among pickup trucks is expected to increase 4-5 times next year.
After the earnings report was released, GM's US stock declined in the premarket. As of press time, the pre-market report was $77.12, down 6.8%. Although the quarterly results exceeded expectations and the scale of repurchases was impressive, GM, which had already raised its guidelines twice during the year, only narrowed the profit range this time, leaving investors expecting a third increase to the point of failure and dragging down stock prices.
Adjusted profit before interest and tax was US$4.106 billion, up 21.6% year over year. By sector, the adjusted profit of the North American business before interest and tax was US$3,592 million, up 43.4% year on year, profit margin 8.7%, up 2.5 percentage points year on year, maintaining the company's target range of 8% to 10%.
The adjusted profit before interest and tax for international business fell 87.7% year on year to US$28 million, of which China's joint venture equity income fell 60.3% to US$32 million; the financial sector's profit before tax fell 16.9% to US$668 million. The adjustments related to the strategic restructuring of electric vehicles narrowed to US$238 million during the quarter, compared to US$1,592 million in the same period last year.
Three consecutive ups and downs, profit guidelines only “narrowed”
The full-year guidance, which the market is paying more attention to, has not been raised again. The company narrowed the 2026 adjusted earnings per share guide from $12-14 to $12.75-13.75 (expected $13.10); the adjusted profit before interest and tax guidance narrowed from $14-16 billion to US$14.5-15.5 billion (expected US$15.06 billion); and raised the adjusted free cash flow guidance for the automobile business from US$9.5 billion to US$11.5 billion to US$11.5 billion.
At the same time, the company also predicts that the total cost of tariffs in 2026 will be at the low end of the 2.5 billion to 3.5 billion US dollars range.