GM Stock (NYSE: GM) Near 52‑Week High: What December 6, 2025 News Means for the 2026 Outlook

Detroit – December 6, 2025 — General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) has powered into December trading near its 52‑week high after a blowout third quarter, aggressive restructuring of its electric‑vehicle (EV) plans, and a revived autonomy push led by a “Silicon Valley cowboy.” Investors are now trying to decide whether the stock’s rally still has room to run — or if expectations have sprinted ahead of fundamentals.

Below is a deep dive into the latest news, forecasts and analysis around GM stock as of December 6, 2025, and what it could mean for the year ahead.

GM Stock Snapshot: Big Rally, Loftier Expectations

As of the most recent close, GM shares trade around $76.05, not far from their 52‑week high of roughly $77, and well above the 12‑month low near $41.60. ^[1]

That puts GM up more than 40% over the past year and over 10% in the past month, according to performance data from ChartMill. ^[2] A StockStory/Finviz analysis notes that the stock has surged about 59% over the last six months, helped by strong quarterly results and a shift in market sentiment toward legacy automakers. ^[3]

On valuation, MarketBeat data show: ^[4]

Market cap: ~$71 billion
Trailing P/E: ~15×
PEG ratio: ~0.8 (implying earnings growth expectations outpace the P/E multiple)
12‑month range: $41.60 – $77.00

Those numbers paint a picture of a stock that has re‑rated higher but still trades at a discount to many tech‑tilted peers — one reason some analysts still see upside while others warn that “cheap” can stay cheap if growth disappoints.

Q3 2025: Earnings Beat, Raised Guidance and Record EV Momentum

The biggest fundamental driver of GM’s 2025 rally has been its third‑quarter earnings beat.

According to the company’s earnings call transcript and multiple analyst summaries, GM reported for Q3 2025: ^[5]

EPS (adjusted): $2.80 vs. $2.32 expected (≈21% beat)
Revenue: $48.59 billion vs. ≈$45–44.6 billion expected (≈7% beat)
Adjusted EBIT: about $3.4 billion, with North America margins pressured by tariffs but still healthy
Automotive free cash flow: roughly $4.2 billion

The strong quarter allowed GM management to raise full‑year 2025 guidance, now targeting: ^[6]

Adjusted EPS: $9.75–$10.50
Adjusted EBIT: $12–$13 billion

Zacks and other analysts highlighted that this marks a clear step‑up from 2024 levels and suggests GM is successfully defending margins despite tariff and EV‑transition headwinds. ^[7]

EV Sales: Quietly Taking the No. 2 Spot

Where GM surprised many commentators was EV performance:

An AInvest analysis, citing GM and industry data, reports that in Q3 2025 GM sold ~66,500 EVs in the U.S., up about 110% year‑on‑year, capturing roughly 16.5% of the U.S. EV market. ^[8]
The Chevrolet Equinox EV is described as the best‑selling non‑Tesla EV in America, with Cadillac’s premium EVs gaining traction as well. ^[9]

This puts GM solidly in the No. 2 position in U.S. EV share, behind Tesla, even as EV incentives and policy volatility complicate demand patterns.

The Macro EV Shock: Tax Credits Vanish, Sales Plunge

The broader environment around EVs turned sharply negative this fall — and that matters for how sustainable GM’s EV growth will be.

A detailed Inside Climate News / Michigan Advance piece notes that U.S. EV sales cratered after federal tax credits were abruptly removed on September 30: ^[10]

In November 2025, EVs accounted for just 5.3% of new U.S. light‑vehicle sales, less than half the record share seen in September.
Models such as Ford’s Mustang Mach‑E and Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 saw year‑over‑year plunges of 49% and 59% in November, respectively. ^[11]

Analysts quoted in that article expect the EV shake‑out to last into 2026, but still see long‑term adoption as inevitable as battery costs fall and total cost‑of‑ownership advantages become more obvious. ^[12]

For GM, this backdrop helps explain several recent decisions:

Resizing EV capacity and re‑allocating some plants back toward internal‑combustion or hybrid models. ^[13]
Greater emphasis on profitability rather than raw EV volume — even if that means slower top‑line growth in the near term. ^[14]

From Cruise Write‑Off to New Autonomy Strategy

The other big structural story behind GM’s stock right now is its pivot in autonomous driving.

Cruise: A $10 Billion Lesson

GM’s now‑defunct robotaxi unit, Cruise, has effectively moved from being a future profit engine to a sunk cost:

A recent Blockchain.News analysis, citing GM Authority and industry sources, reports that GM invested over $9–10 billion into Cruise between its 2016 acquisition and the eventual shutdown. ^[15]
After a high‑profile pedestrian injury in San Francisco and subsequent regulatory backlash, Cruise’s operations were suspended and the business was shut down in late 2023–2024. ^[16]
GM later confirmed in a December 2024 update that it would no longer fund Cruise’s robotaxi development, instead integrating Cruise and in‑house teams to focus on broader autonomous and advanced driver‑assistance systems (ADAS). ^[17]

For investors, this means the robotaxi “moonshot” has already been paid for — and written off. The question now is whether GM can leverage that know‑how into a more measured but profitable autonomy strategy.

Enter the “Silicon Valley Cowboy” and Ex‑Tesla Talent

That new strategy is increasingly personified by Sterling Anderson, GM’s chief product officer:

Anderson, a former Tesla Autopilot leader and co‑founder of Aurora, joined GM in mid‑2025 and now oversees the end‑to‑end product lifecycle, including manufacturing engineering, batteries, software and services. ^[18]
CNBC and other outlets have described him as GM’s “Silicon Valley cowboy,” tasked with driving a technology‑led renaissance inside the 116‑year‑old automaker. ^[19]

In early December, Business Insider revealed that GM has hired Ronalee Mann, a former Tesla and Cruise executive, as head of product operations, reporting directly to Anderson. Rashed Haq, another former Cruise executive, has been named VP of autonomy. ^[20]

These moves come on top of a broader internal reshuffle:

Anderson has been consolidating software, AI and product teams under one umbrella, arguing that software and hardware must be developed as a single, unified system. ^[21]
GM is reportedly rehiring selected former Cruise employees to work on a personal‑use autonomous vehicle platform, rather than a fleet robotaxi model. ^[22]

The New Autonomy Roadmap: 2028 “Eyes‑Off” Driving

An in‑depth AInvest analysis outlines GM’s current autonomy roadmap: ^[23]

GM plans to invest about $27 billion over five years in EVs and autonomy.
It is targeting “eyes‑off” highway autonomy by 2028, building on its Super Cruise hands‑free system, which has logged hundreds of millions of miles of hands‑free driving.
The focus is on personal vehicles with advanced hands‑free capability rather than taxi fleets, a more incremental and potentially less capital‑intensive path than Cruise’s original robotaxi vision.

Skeptics note that Tesla’s Full Self‑Driving still appears ahead in terms of real‑world data and urban capability, and players like Waymo continue to operate (and now even recall and refine) robotaxi fleets. ^[24] That leaves GM in the position of a fast‑follower rather than a first mover in autonomy — but now with a more disciplined capital plan.

Institutional Money, Insider Selling and Options Frenzy

Institutions Own the Story

One of the clearest themes in recent coverage is that GM is overwhelmingly an institutional stock:

A new MarketBeat piece on December 6 highlights that institutional investors and hedge funds now own about 92.67% of GM’s shares, following fresh positions from Edgestream Partners (~$1.25 million) and a huge stake from Norway’s Norges Bank (~$444 million). ^[25]
Earlier Simply Wall St work pegs institutional ownership in the 87–88% range, with Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street together holding a double‑digit slice of the company. ^[26]

High institutional concentration cuts both ways: it signals credibility and deep research coverage, but also means the stock can move sharply if large holders decide to rotate out.

Insider Selling: A Yellow Flag?

At the same time, recent filings show heavy insider selling:

CEO Mary Barra sold roughly 754,000 shares at an average price just under $60 in late September, a transaction worth about $45 million and a 63% reduction in her personal stake. ^[27]
Other executives, including GM’s chief accounting officer and EVP Rory Harvey, have also sold portions of their holdings.
Over the last 90 days, insiders have collectively sold about 1.29 million shares, worth roughly $79 million, and now hold only around 0.5% of the stock. ^[28]

Insider selling doesn’t automatically signal trouble — executives diversify for many reasons — but the scale and timing, as the stock pushes toward all‑time highs, is something investors are watching.

Options Traders Turn Bullish

Short‑term sentiment looks decidedly more upbeat:

On December 5, MarketBeat reported that call option volume in GM surged to more than 58,000 contracts in a single session, about 77% above average daily call volume. ^[29]

Elevated call activity often signals speculative bullish bets, momentum trading, or hedged institutional positioning — all consistent with a stock that’s been breaking out after a strong earnings season.

What Wall Street Expects Now: Price Targets and Growth

Despite the recent rally, analysts remain broadly constructive — but not unanimously so.

Consensus Rating: “Buy,” With Modest Price‑Target Upside (or Even Slight Downside)

StockAnalysis data show that 20 analysts currently rate GM a “Buy” on average, with: ^[30]

Average 12‑month price target: $69.65
Median target: $74
Range: $35 (bear case) to $100 (bull case)

Because GM’s share price has run ahead of earlier forecasts, that average target actually implies a single‑digit percentage downside from the current mid‑$70s level. ^[31]

MarketBeat’s broader tally similarly labels the stock a “Moderate Buy,” with three “Strong Buy,” thirteen “Buy,” seven “Hold” and two “Sell” ratings, and a consensus price target around $70.27. ^[32]

Earnings and Revenue Forecasts

Looking out over the next few years:

Simply Wall St estimates that GM’s earnings are expected to grow about 18.7% per year, with EPS rising nearly 19% annually. ^[33]
Revenue, however, is forecast to grow less than 1% per year, reflecting a mature auto market and GM’s decision to prioritize margins over volume. ^[34]
StockAnalysis projects EPS increasing from about $10.5 in 2025 to roughly $11.7 in 2026, while revenue inches up toward $191 billion over the same period. ^[35]

That combination — low top‑line growth but robust margin and EPS expansion — is exactly what GM is trying to engineer through cost cuts, capital discipline and product mix.

The Bull Case: Cash Machine With a Tech Upgrade

Recent bullish research (including pieces from Seeking Alpha and Simply Wall St) tends to hammer on a few key points: ^[36]

Valuation vs. Earnings Power
Even after the rally, GM trades at a mid‑teens multiple of current earnings and a much lower multiple of forward earnings, with a PEG under 1. For investors who believe management can hit its EPS guide and longer‑term growth forecasts, the stock still screens as cheap relative to its growth profile.
Margin Rebuild Plan
Zacks and other outlets highlight GM’s plan to restore North American margins to 8–10% by: ^[37]
- Reducing tariff drag
- Stabilizing warranty and recall costs
- Right‑sizing EV capacity to match actual demand
- Leaning on profitable trucks, SUVs and commercial fleets
Software‑Defined Vehicles and Subscriptions
Under Sterling Anderson, GM is pushing toward software‑defined vehicles (SDVs) that can be updated and monetized via subscriptions and features‑on‑demand, from advanced driver assistance to infotainment and fleet telematics. ^[38]
EV Scale Without Over‑Extending
GM’s Q3 numbers show it can gain EV share even in a choppy market, thanks to mass‑market models like the Equinox EV, while still dialing back unprofitable or sub‑scale projects. ^[39]
Financial Arm Strength
GM Financial posted Q3 net income of $589 million, with strong liquidity of $37.2 billion and manageable delinquencies and charge‑offs, underlining a relatively solid credit book. ^[40]

Add it all up, and the bull case is that GM is evolving from a cyclical metal‑bender into a cash‑generative, software‑enhanced mobility company — but still priced as an old‑school automaker.

The Bear Case: Cyclicality, Thin Margins and Execution Risk

On the other side of the ledger, a high‑profile StockStory/Finviz article dated December 4 lays out “3 Reasons to Sell GM” despite the stock’s big run. ^[41]

Key bearish arguments include:

Weak Volume Growth
GM’s units sold in the latest quarter were about 977,000, with unit volumes growing only around 1.6% annually over the past two years. In a volume‑driven industry, that slow growth suggests pricing power may be needed just to keep revenue flat — and that can be hard to sustain in a competitive market.
Soft Revenue Outlook
Some sell‑side models cited in that piece expect GM’s revenue to decline about 1% over the next 12 months, versus roughly 10% annualized growth over the past five years. That implies no clear top‑line growth story in the near term.
Structural Margin Pressure
With an average gross margin around 12% over the last five years, GM operates in a structurally low‑margin business. Auto makers often break even (or worse) on vehicle sales and earn profit later through parts, servicing and financing — a model vulnerable to shocks in demand and credit.
EV and Reliability Risks
A recent GM Authority summary of Consumer Reports’ December 2025 reliability survey notes that Cadillac scored poorly, largely due to teething issues in its new EV lineup, even though older Cadillac models rank well on other dependability studies. ^[42] Reliability concerns could slow premium‑brand EV adoption and weigh on pricing.
Policy and Tariff Uncertainty
GM’s own Q3 commentary emphasized the impact of tariffs, regulatory shifts and chip supply constraints on its cost structure and production plans. ^[43]

If you buy this bear case, GM at 6–7× forward earnings may be “cheap for a reason” — a mature, cyclical industrial with limited growth and high execution risk on its software and autonomy ambitions.

Key Catalysts to Watch After December 6, 2025

For investors following GM stock into 2026, several near‑ and medium‑term catalysts stand out:

Q4 2025 Earnings and 2026 Guidance
GM is expected to report Q4 2025 results in late January 2026 (Simply Wall St lists January 27 as the scheduled date). ^[44]
- Watch whether management reaffirms or updates its EPS and margin targets.
- Pay attention to EV order trends post‑tax‑credit, and how much GM leans into hybrids or ICE to support margins.
Progress on Autonomy and SDVs
- Any concrete milestones toward the 2028 “eyes‑off” highway goal. ^[45]
- Further details on software monetization (subscriptions, over‑the‑air upgrades, fleet services). ^[46]
Capital Markets Activity
- GM Financial’s plan to issue $6 billion in term notes, as flagged in a Reuters/MarketScreener brief, underscores the ongoing importance of balance‑sheet management and funding costs. ^[47]
Institutional Flows and Insider Activity
- After the recent wave of insider selling and heavy institutional accumulation (including Norges Bank’s new stake), further shifts in ownership could influence volatility. ^[48]
Policy and EV Demand Stabilization
- The market will be watching how long the post‑credit EV slump lasts and whether new incentives or cost declines re‑ignite demand by 2027–2028. ^[49]

Bottom Line: GM Stock at a Crossroads

As of December 6, 2025, GM is no longer a forgotten value stock. After a big rerating, it sits in a more ambiguous spot:

The bull case sees a cash‑rich automaker successfully rebuilding margins, scaling profitable EVs, and turning its massive installed base into a platform for software and autonomy — all at a valuation that still assumes little growth.
The bear case argues that thin margins, slow volumes and policy risk make GM’s earnings highly vulnerable, and that the stock’s rally has already priced in most of the restructuring upside.

Either way, the latest news — from Q3 beats and raised guidance to a revived self‑driving push under Sterling Anderson and heavy institutional ownership — make GM one of the more closely watched legacy automakers heading into 2026.

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always do your own research and consider your financial situation and risk tolerance before making investment decisions.