General Motors Meets on Revenues, Misses on EPS

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

General Motors (NYS: GM) reported earnings on Feb. 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), General Motors met expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded slightly and GAAP earnings per share shrank significantly.

Gross margins improved, operating margins grew, net margins contracted.

Revenue details
General Motors reported revenue of $38.00 billion. The 16 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected revenue of $37.82 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 3.0% higher than the prior-year quarter's $36.88 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.39. The 18 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $0.43 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.28 for Q4 were 60% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.70 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 11.6%, 150 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 3.0%, 210 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 1.9%, 190 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $37.18 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.74.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $154.95 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.59.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 718 members out of 900 rating the stock outperform, and 183 members rating it underperform. Among 202 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 161 give General Motors a green thumbs-up, and 41 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on General Motors is outperform, with an average price target of $33.21.

At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of General Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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