General Motors shares are plunging more than 6% in premarket trading Tuesday, despite the automaker announcing a massive new $20 billion share repurchase program and reporting quarterly earnings that came in ahead of Wall Street expectations, according to Bloomberg News.
The selling comes as GM continues to grapple with a weakening U.S. auto market, where higher financing costs and pressure on household budgets have made it increasingly difficult to sell lower-priced vehicles. Demand for the company's more expensive trucks and SUVs has held up considerably better, allowing GM to preserve profitability even as overall sales volumes come under pressure.
Bloomberg/Financial Post reports that for the third quarter, GM generated approximately $50 billion in revenue and $4.1 billion in adjusted operating profit, narrowly beating analyst expectations. Adjusted earnings of $3.70 per share also exceeded the $3.56 consensus estimate. Perhaps more importantly, automotive free cash flow jumped 40% to $5.9 billion.
That cash generation is helping fund an increasingly aggressive effort to return money to shareholders. GM's latest $20 billion repurchase authorization follows a $6 billion program announced earlier this year and approximately $29.5 billion in buybacks completed since 2023. Th
