GM expects next year’s results to exceed 2025 profits

DETROIT — GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Tuesday that the company expects next year’s earnings to exceed its 2025 results, which performed much better than Wall Street forecasts.

Investors were hoping to hear feedback on 2026 guidance as the automaker reported third-quarter earnings that included raising 2025 guidance and beating Wall Street expectations.

“Looking forward to 2026, we have multiple tools to continue our current forward momentum, including progress [electric vehicle] “Losses, warranty costs, tariff compensation, regulatory requirements and fixed costs. As a result, we expect next year to be better than 2025,” Jacobson said.

The company’s shares rose more than 15% on Tuesday. The stock closed Monday at $58 per share.

Jacobson also said the automaker will continue to buy back stock, something the company has been aggressive about in recent years. At the end of the third quarter, GM shares outstanding amounted to 954 million, a decrease of 15% from the previous year.

“We’re just going to continue to focus on getting the business done and executing the plan, and that’s worked well for us and we expect that to happen in ’26,” 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 did not give a time frame for achieving that goal. The margin was 6.2% during the third quarter.

GM’s updated 2025 guidance includes adjusted EBIT of $12 billion to $13 billion, or $9.75 to $10.50 per adjusted share, up from $10 billion to $12.5 billion, or $8.25 to $10 per adjusted share, and adjusted auto free cash flow of $10 billion to $11 billion, up from $7.5 billion To 10 billion dollars.

“This comment is encouraging and consistent with our received view that automakers can convey positive messages beyond 2025,” TD Cowen analyst Itai Michaeli said Tuesday in an investment note about 2026.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said he expects the analyst consensus for 2026 to move “much higher” following third-quarter results and revised guidance.

Citi’s Michael Ward said the latest findings and guidance point to a larger cultural change for GM: “In the past it has been said that it was difficult to turn the big GM ship around very quickly. Given the changing landscape, GM has found a way to turn it around much faster than it has in the past.”

– CNBC Michael Bloom She contributed to this report.

Correction: At the end of the third quarter, GM shares outstanding were 954 million shares. An earlier version misstated the shape.