DETROIT — General Motors beat Wall Street’s first-quarter expectations but is reassessing its 2025 financial guidance and suspending any additional stock buybacks amid expected cost increases and industry uncertainty regarding Donald Trump
Here’s how the company performed in the first quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $2.78 adjusted vs. $2.74 expected
- Revenue: $44.02 billion vs. $43.05 billion
GM’s 2025 guidance from January, which did not take tariffs into account, included net income attributable to stockholders of $11.2 billion to $12.5 billion, or $11 to $12 in earnings per share; adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $13.7 billion to $15.7 billion, or $11 to $12 adjusted EPS; and adjusted automotive free cash flow between $11 billion and $13 billion.
“We believe the future impacts of tariffs could be significant, so we are reassessing our guidance and look forward to sharing more when we have greater clarity,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson said during a media call. “The prior guidance can’t be relied upon, and we’ll come back to the market with clarity as soon as we have it.”
GM declined to say it was formally withdrawing or suspending the guidance, but said it was calling it unreliable until the company has additional clarity on the economic and regulatory environments.
Jacobson declined to disclose how much the tariffs, including 25% levies on imported vehicles effective April 3, have cost the Detroit automaker thus far. He also declined to discuss any new actions the company has taken to avoid additional costs until the company’s call with investors, which was moved from Tuesday to 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday amid potential regulatory changes.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that Trump is expected to soften the impact of his automotive tariffs, preventing duties on foreign-made cars from stacking on top of other tariffs such as steel and aluminum that have been imposed.
The report also says the administration will modify its tariffs on imported auto parts, allowing automakers to be reimbursed for those tariffs up to an amount equal to 3.75% of the value of a U.S.-made car for one year. The reimbursement would fall to 2.5% of the car’s value in a second year, and then be phased out altogether, according to the Journal.
Trump is scheduled to visit Michigan on Tuesday to celebrate his first 100 days back in the Oval Office.
Jacobson said the company continues to believe it may be able to offset between 30% and 50% of the North American tariffs, as previously announced, but is still assessing the situation and awaiting additional clarity.
Trump’s tariffs, including an additional 25% on aluminum and steel, and potential levies on auto parts that could take effect by May 3, have created growing uncertainty for the automotive industry. The instability has caused Wall Street analysts to downgrade many automotive stocks, including GM.
Jacobson said the Detroit automaker does not expect to make any significant changes to its manufacturing plans until there’s “more clarity” on the levies, but it has been making some “no regrets” adjustments to its North American production due to the tariffs, as well as other factors.
Those decisions have included increasing pickup truck production at a plant in Indiana, canceling downtime at a plant in Missouri and suspending production of its large electric vehicle delivery vans in Canada.
“Further decisions around capital required, or big shifts, we’re going to defer on until we have a little bit more clarity on that,” Jacobson said, adding that the tariffs could lead the company or its supply chain to conduct “pretty significant investments” in the U.S.
The company’s first-quarter results included net income attributable to stockholders of $2.78 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $3.49 billion. That compared with results a year earlier of $43.01 billion in revenue, net income attributable to stockholders of $2.98 billion, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $3.87 billion.
Despite profit margins being down compared with a year earlier, Jacobson described GM’s first-quarter results as “very strong,” noting solid fundamentals of the automaker’s business. He cited a $300 million negative impact in foreign exchange, specifically the Mexican peso, and $400 million in additional year-over-year costs that included higher labor and warranty expenses as well as depreciation and amortization.
Regarding capital spending and future stock buybacks for GM, which the company has leaned upon to prop up its share price, Jacobson said the completion of a $2 billion accelerated stock buyback program is still expected to conclude during the second quarter, but any future purchases are suspended.
“We have temporarily suspended any buyback activity until we have more clarity on what the situation might be,” Jacobson said. “As far as capital spending goes, we continue to evaluate and position where we might want to go with that, and we’ve got some flexibility in the portfolio, but to date, we haven’t made any material changes to our capital expenditure program, but we’ll continue to assess that as we get more clarity.”
In February, GM said it would initiate a $6 billion share repurchase program as the company attempts to reward investors amid slowing industry sales and profits, including the $2 billion accelerated program.
