General Motors beat earnings expectations, raised its dividend, and approved a $6 billion stock buyback, all while explaining why its electric vehicles did not get the memo. Investors cheered as the company delivered strong numbers with one hand and a calculator with the other.
Shareholders received a small raise in their quarterly dividend and the comforting sound of a $6 billion buyback humming in the background. Wall Street responded with the calm joy usually reserved for finding money in an old coat pocket.
Meanwhile, EVs continued to test everyone’s patience, including the accountants, who now know more about write-downs than they ever wanted to.
GM reported fourth-quarter revenue of $45.29 billion, slightly below estimates and down 5.1% from last year. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.51, comfortably above expectations, which is the financial equivalent of arriving late but with snacks.
Adjusted EBIT reached $2.84 billion, just edging past forecasts. The numbers were close enough to estimates to show discipline, but far enough to earn applause.
CEO Mary Barra said 2026 should be an even better year, citing resilient demand and operational discipline. Investors nodded, appreciating both the optimism and the use of the word “discipline.”
The board raised the quarterly dividend by three cents to $0.18 per share. It also approved a $6 billion share repurchase plan, a corporate gesture that says, “We like us.”
For 2025, GM delivered adjusted EBIT of $12.7 billion, free cash flow of $10.6 billion, and adjusted EPS of $10.60. These figures landed neatly within or above guidance, which is rare enough to deserve a polite round of applause from analysts.
Barra noted that the U.S. regulatory environment now aligns more closely with customer demand. Translation: building more vehicles at home makes both customers and policymakers less grumpy.
Tariffs, once forecast to cost up to $4.5 billion, ended up costing GM $3.1 billion. In corporate terms, that qualifies as a pleasant surprise.
Looking ahead, however, GM expects another $3 billion to $4 billion in tariff costs, plus $1 billion to $1.5 billion from commodities and foreign exchange. There is also another $1 billion to $1.5 billion from onshoring and related costs, which is the price of bringing the party back home.
GM said EV unit losses should improve by $1 billion to $1.5 billion. It also expects regulatory benefits worth up to $750 million from not having to buy emissions credits, which is accounting’s version of finding a discount code.
Earlier this month, GM took a $6 billion charge related to its EV business, citing softer demand and the loss of the federal EV tax credit. This came after a $1.6 billion charge in Q3, bringing total EV write-downs to $6.6 billion, a number large enough to require deep breaths before saying it out loud.
GM expects more EV-related charges in 2026, though “significantly smaller,” which is comforting in the way a smaller thunderstorm is comforting.
Sales told a split story. Fourth-quarter U.S. sales fell 6.9% year over year to just over 703,000 vehicles.
For the full year, however, sales rose 5.5% to 2.85 million vehicles, making GM the top-selling automaker in the U.S. again. Trucks and SUVs did most of the heavy lifting, both literally and financially.
Full-size pickup sales rose for the sixth straight year, reaching their best level in 20 years. Large SUVs such as the Tahoe, Suburban, and Yukon also helped GM win its segment for the fifth straight year.
EV sales, on the other hand, fell 43% in the fourth quarter to just over 25,000 units. GM blamed a pull-forward of sales in Q3 before the federal tax credit expired, which is a polite way of saying customers hurried earlier and relaxed later.
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