2018 Earnings Exceeded Expectations, 2019 Looks Better, Says GM

The mid-morning of Friday saw an amazing growth of the General Motors shares, as the company released details about its annual profits. According to the Chief Operating Officer of General Motors, Marry Barra, the company has exceeded its own expectations in terms of 2018. The CEO also added that it has better set of expectations for 2019, which GM believes would be more profitable.

“From a 2018 perspective, it is not only a focus on really capitalizing on the new trucks we have out there, the light-duty trucks, but also the focus on cost reduction so it was across the board. Every element of the company,” Marry Barra was quoted saying by CNBC. The manufacturer says that the increasing demand in China and the sustainable demand for utility vehicles in the United States had contributed to this growth. According to the previous expectations, the per-share price of General Motors was to be between $5.80 and $6.20, but Marry Barra now says that these numbers would be surpassed. In 2019, the growth will be more evident, says the CEO. She says the adjusted earnings per share would be $6.50 to $7.00, which is huge. Also, the free cash flow has been forecast to $4.5 to $6 Billion.

The aforesaid soaring of GM shares was partly due to this announcement. Barra also shared some insights to what the company is planning and has done in order to achieve the success. Talking about the several job cuts the company had done, Barra said that the move was ‘proactive’ and that it had helped a lot in cutting the costs. Talking about China, GM is quite confident about the growing demand of General Motors vehicles in China. The company is planning to launch more than 20 new vehicles in the country this year. “When you step back and look at China, we have been there for 20 years, we have had tremendous success, we have very strong brands,” she was quoted saying.