General Motors Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

General Motors (NYS: GM) reported earnings on Oct. 31. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), General Motors beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased slightly and GAAP earnings per share contracted.


Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
 General Motors reported revenue of $37.60 billion. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for revenue of $35.83 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 2.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $36.72 billion.

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

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.93. The 18 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.60 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.89 for Q3 were 14% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.03 per share.

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 12.1%, 100 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 4.5%, 50 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 4.9%, 80 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $39.36 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.52.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $150.89 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.04.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 817 members out of 1,035 rating the stock outperform, and 218 members rating it underperform. Among 207 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 152 give General Motors a green thumbs-up, and 55 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 $30.98.

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The article General Motors Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again originally appeared on Fool.com.

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. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend General Motors Company. 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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