MILFORD: General Motors Co told Wall Street yesterday that its recovery is gathering momentum with improving margins, strong brands, new markets for high-tech vehicles, and prospects for stronger profits in coming years.
The No. 1 US automaker said it is targeting an increase in earnings per share to between $5 and $5.50 per share before items, from the $4.50 per share that Wall Street analysts expect for this year. GM earned $3.05 per share in 2014 before items.
GM said it will increase its return to investors by stronger profit margins in China and North America, as well as operating efficiencies and share buybacks.
An improving US economy and rapid jobs growth have put 2015 US car sales on track for sales of more than 17 million. GM, the market leader, has shown a 4.2 percent increase in the US market through September, which is expected to be in line with industry growth when that figure is known later.
In an annual presentation to investors in the Detroit suburb of Milford, Michigan, GM said its pre-tax global margins target is 9 percent to 10 percent by “early next decade.”
The Detroit-based automaker, which reported a 12-percent rise in US September sales, has had a difficult time convincing Wall Street of its value and its shares have fallen below $30 recently, well short of its 2010 initial public offering of $33 per share.
That IPO came a little over a year after GM emerged from a government-funded bankruptcy in which the company pared four of its brands and much of its US dealership network.
GM said it will have revenue of $155bn this year as well as global margins of 6.8 percent and a 24 percent return on invested capital.
Shares rose 1.3 percent to $30.42 on the New York Stock Exchange, while the broader market was down slightly.
The company will save about $5.5bn in the next three years in efficiencies in manufacturing, administration and purchasing, which will pay for investments in technology and brand development.
The savings through 2018 will “more than offset” the technology and brand investments, GM said.
Some $2bn of the savings will be on materials GM uses for its vehicles, said Mark Reuss, the company’s global product chief.
GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said the company will develop its autonomous vehicle programme by having its employees at its primary technical center in Warren, Michigan drive a fleet of plug-in hybrid 2017 Chevrolet Volts. “We will redefine customers and their personal mobility,” said Barra.
She said this effort “starts with connectivity” that will be used to advance its autonomous vehicles. It will also include an electric bicycle that the company expects to be sold in densely populated global cities. It plans to launch a citywide car sharing service in the US in early 2016, expanding efforts to compete for revenue from consumers who want to pay for using cars instead of owning them.
Barra said GM executives will update investors on its plans in China and India later.
GM plans for 39 percent of its global sales to come from new or refreshed vehicles, up from 26 percent this year. Reuters
