Shares of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) were on an upward trajectory in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the automobile major reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $2.12, which handily beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.69 per share.
The company’s Q4 revenues increased by 28.4% year-over-year to $43.1 billion, beating analysts’ expectations by $2.5 billion.
GM has also declared a quarterly dividend for Q1 FY23 of $0.09 per share payable on March 16 to all common shareholders of record as of the close of trading on March 3.
Looking forward, management now expects its “its core auto operations to perform at a consistently strong level in 2023” with adjusted EBIT expected to be in the range of $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion while adjusted diluted earnings likely to come in between $6 and $7 per share. For reference, analysts are expecting FY23 adjusted EPS of $5.74. For FY23, the company has forecasted adjusted automotive free cash flow in the range of $5 billion to $7 billion.
In another major news, GM also announced an equity investment worth $650 million in Lithium Americas (LAC) and will jointly develop the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. Thacker Pass is the “largest known source of lithium in the United States and the third largest in the world.”
As a part of this agreement, GM will have exclusive access to the Phase 1 production at this mine and the lithium produced at this mine will be able to support the production of up to 1 million EVs every year.
GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra commented, “GM has secured all the battery material we need to build more than 1 million EVs annually in North America in 2025 and our future production will increasingly draw from domestic resources like the site in Nevada we’re developing with Lithium Americas.”
Analysts rate GM stock a Moderate Buy based on four Buys and five Holds.
