General Motors‘ stock surged by nearly 10% on Tuesday morning after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings results beat Wall Street expectations.
Despite previously announcing a $7 billion impairment related to its EV business restructuring, the company said it will now raise its quarterly dividend by 20% and plan future share repurchases.
According to CEO Mary Barra, the move is possible because GM‘s average annual free cash flow has grown significantly from $3 billion to $10 billion over the past five years.
Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson stated that the Board of Directors recently authorized a new $6 billion share repurchase program.
The approval reflects the “confidence in our ability to generate strong future cash flows and underscoring our ongoing commitment to returning capital to shareholders.”
Jacobson noted that a previous share repurchase program — in November 2023 — has led GM to return $23 billion to shareholders.
“These actions have reduced our outstanding share count by more than 465 million shares or nearly 35%, leaving approximately 930 million diluted shares at year-end 2025,” he informed.
The CFO added that GM has delivered “substantial shareholder value with our stock price appreciating more than 170% since late November 2023.”
Stock Performance
GM‘s stock price has jumped over 60% in 2025.
Its shares began 2025 trading at around $50 and fell to a yearly low of $41.28 in early April.
Detroit automakers’ stocks have been affected by global tensions over US tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts, since they rely heavily on production in Mexico and Canada.
Since April, the share price nearly doubled, reaching a record $83.68 in the final days of the year.
On January 8, it briefly surged to $85.18 before giving back those gains in the following sessions.
After General Motors released its fourth-quarter and 2025 financial results this Tuesday, its shares soared over 9% to a new high of $87.19.
As of press time, shares were trading 9% higher at $86.55.
Outlook
Barra highlighted that a “compelling vehicle and technology portfolio, a resilient US market, and the steps we have taken to strengthen our position should help make 2026 an even better year for GM.”
GM expects full-year EBIT adjusted margins in North America to be “back in the 8% to 10% margin range.”
Jacobson added that, in the next two years, General Motors expects “invest 10 to $12 billion annually, including approximately $5 billion to expand US manufacturing capacity for some of the highest demand vehicles and further reduce our tariff exposure.”
On Tuesday’s earnings call, the company’s CEO said the Detroit automaker is “operating in a US regulatory and policy environment that is increasingly aligned with customer demand,” which allows them to “onshore more production to help meet strong demand for our ICE vehicles.”
The company continues “to believe in EVs,” recognizing that their electric portfolio “brought almost 100,000 new customers to GM last year.”
“We know EV drivers don’t often go back to ICE, so we’ll continue executing our plan to dramatically reduce costs and to be well-positioned for the future,” she added.
GM was the second-best-selling brand when it comes to electric vehicles in the United States last year, just after Tesla.
“As we look further ahead, our annual production in the US is expected to rise to an industry-leading 2 million units,” the CEO stated.
Based on the figures mentioned by Barra, GM plans to surpass Ford and become the country’s largest vehicle manufacturer — CNBC reported earlier on Tuesday.
