Retail Investors Go Crazy Over GM Stock After Solid Q2 Earnings, Guidance: But That’s Not All

GM’s second quarter earnings saw two things happen simultaneously that drew retail interest toward the stock and pushed Stocktwits sentiment toward an extreme. The firm topped Wall Street expectations on multiple metrics and also raised its forecast for the year.

The automaker reported a revenue of $47.97 billion during the quarter, higher than a Street estimate of $45.46 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $3.06, beating an estimate of $2.75. GM’s revenue was 7.20% higher on a year-over-year (YoY) basis while its EPS was up over 60%.

Following the announcement, shares of the company were trading over 4% higher on Tuesday morning in the pre-market session. Retail sentiment entered extremely bullish territory (79/100) from a previously neutral zone, supported by high message volume.

As far its 2024 guidance is concerned, the firm now expects to post an adjusted diluted EPS of $9.50-$10.50 as compared to an earlier guidance of $9-$10. GM said it expects adjusted earnings before interest and tax to come in at $13 billion-$15 billion compared to an earlier guidance of $12.50 billion-$14.50 billion. Adjusted automotive free cash flow is expected at $9.5 billion-$11.50 billion as compared to previous guidance of $8.50 billion-$10.50 billion.

Only the net income guidance figure saw a minor downward correction with the firm estimating the metric between $10 billion-$11.40 billion as compared to an earlier guidance of $10.10 billion-$11.50 billion. Notably, the firm’s China operations recorded an equity loss of $104 million.

Meanwhile, the automaker has decided to indefinitely delay the production of its Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle. GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders that the Cruise team will simplify their path to scale by focusing their next autonomous vehicle on the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt, instead of the Origin. “This addresses the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design. In addition, per-unit costs will be much lower, which will help Cruise optimize its resources,” she said.

Bank of America analyst John Murphy has raised the price target on the stock to $85 from $75 while maintaining a ‘Buy’ rating. Given that the stock is currently trading below the $50 mark, the price target leaves an upside potential of over 71% for the stock.

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