GM Profit More Than Doubled in the Third Quarter, but the Stock Fell After a Narrowed Outlook

General Motors earned far more money selling fewer vehicles in the third quarter, powered by the trucks and SUVs at the top of its range — and investors still marked the stock down.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $50.015 billion, net income attributable to stockholders of $3.335 billion and EBIT-adjusted of $4.106 billion in its earnings release on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. A year earlier, revenue was $48.591 billion, net income attributable to stockholders was $1.327 billion and EBIT-adjusted was $3.376 billion. Earnings per diluted share were $3.73, up from $1.35, and EPS-diluted-adjusted was $3.70, up from $2.80, topping analyst expectations of $3.63, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.

North America did the heavy lifting

GM North America (GMNA) EBIT-adjusted rose 43.4 percent to $3.592 billion, with its margin widening to 8.7 percent from 6.2 percent. Reuters attributed the beat to shoppers who keep buying pricey pickups and SUVs, and GM said higher wholesales of gasoline vehicles, up 53,000 units, were partly offset by 23,000 fewer EV wholesales, while a lower EV mix helped profitability. The company pointed to cheaper warranty claims and adjustments to EV inventory, alongside more wholesale volume and a richer mix, and said commodity, logistics and onshoring costs and the launch of its next-generation full-size pickups took some of that back. The profit came on lower volume: GM sold 670,974 vehicles in the United States in the quarter, down 5.5 percent from a year earlier, hurt by discontinued models and a smaller market for electric vehicles.

A smaller EV charge flattered the year-on-year jump

The 151.3 percent rise in net income overstates the underlying improvement, because the year-earlier quarter carried far heavier electric-vehicle charges. Charges booked as EV strategic realignment totaled $238 million in the third quarter, down from $1.592 billion a year earlier, and $3.594 billion in the first nine months. The cleaner measure is EBIT-adjusted, up 21.6 percent, with its margin rising to 8.2 percent from 6.9 percent. The rest of the map was weaker: GM International EBIT-adjusted fell to $28 million from $226 million, which GM attributed to higher costs and a negative mark-to-market adjustment on its investment in Momenta, equity income from its China joint ventures fell to $32 million from $80 million, and GM Financial EBT-adjusted fell 16.9 percent to $668 million. Cash generation was strong anyway: adjusted automotive free cash flow rose 40.0 percent to $5.882 billion, and automotive operating cash flow rose 32.6 percent to $8.049 billion.

Guidance narrowed around an unchanged midpoint

GM narrowed its full-year 2026 EBIT-adjusted guidance to $14.5 billion to $15.5 billion from $14 billion to $16 billion, leaving the $15 billion midpoint exactly where it was, and narrowed EPS-diluted-adjusted guidance to $12.75 to $13.75 from $12.00 to $14.00. It now expects net income attributable to stockholders of $8.9 billion to $9.5 billion and EPS-diluted of $9.72 to $10.72. The one range it raised was adjusted automotive free cash flow, now $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion, up from $9.5 billion to $11.5 billion. Against that, GM said it now expects commodity inflation, including logistics and memory chip costs, of about $2 billion this year, at the high end of its earlier $1.5 billion to $2 billion view, with gross tariff costs expected at the low end of a $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion range and regulatory benefits of about $500 million. Reuters reported the company remained confident despite inflationary pressures from higher logistics and energy costs, tariffs and other expenses.

A $20 billion buyback, and a falling stock

The company said it has completed the $6.0 billion share repurchase program announced in January 2026, and its board approved a new $20.0 billion multi-year share repurchase authorization with no expiration date. GM bought back $2.5 billion of shares in the third quarter, retiring 29 million shares, and another $1 billion in October, and it had 849 million shares outstanding on September 30, down from 904 million at the end of 2025. “We think this is a proven strategy,” Chair and Chief Executive Mary Barra wrote in her letter to shareholders. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 a share, payable December 17, 2026 to holders of record on December 4, 2026. None of it rescued the stock on the morning: shares fell 5.8 percent in premarket trading to $77.94 as of 7:03 a.m. ET, after a regular-session close of $82.75 on Monday, October 19.

Software revenue is the quieter story

Under the headline numbers, the mix of what GM sells is shifting. U.S. EV sales fell 61.7 percent to 25,473 vehicles from 66,501 a year earlier, and EVs accounted for just 3.8 percent of GM's 670,974 U.S. sales, down from 9.4 percent. At the same time, GM delivered about 83,000 vehicles equipped with its Super Cruise hands-free driving system in the quarter and expects more than 850,000 Super Cruise subscribers by year-end, while OnStar deferred revenue stood at $6.8 billion at the end of September, up about 40 percent from a year earlier. That software and subscription base is why a quarter with falling unit sales can still produce rising revenue: the company is earning more from each vehicle it sells, and from the services attached to it.

The call, the launch and Ford are next

Barra and Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson were due to host the earnings call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, where the questions will be about the cost side: whether the roughly $2 billion commodity bill grows, how the redesigned full-size pickups launching this quarter sell, and whether EV demand stabilises at its new, lower level. Ford and Stellantis report on October 28, which will show whether GM's combination — fewer vehicles, richer mix, heavier buybacks — is an industry pattern or a GM-specific one.