General Motors Q1 Profit Beats Expectations, Raising Full-Year Guidance

General Motors reported its Q1 2026 financial results before the US stock market opened on Tuesday, with profit clearly exceeding expectations. Tariff reimbursements inflated the adjusted profit, but even after excluding this special factor, the company's earnings were still better than market estimates.

Key financial data:

• Adjusted EPS of $3.70, significantly higher than the market expectation of about $2.60

• Adjusted EBIT of $4.25 billion, above the market expectation of $3.02 billion, and higher than last year's $3.49 billion

• Adjusted EBIT margin of 9.7%, higher than last year's 7.9%

• Revenue of $43.62 billion, slightly above the market expectation of about $43.4 billion, but lower than last year's $44.02 billion, a decrease of about 0.9% year-on-year

• Tariff reimbursements of about $500 million, from the US Supreme Court's favorable ruling on tariffs related to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, General Motors has booked these gains into the first quarter adjusted EBIT

Regarding free cash flow, General Motors' automotive free cash flow for the first quarter was $1.27 billion, higher than last year's $811 million, but below the market estimate of $1.92 billion, mainly affected by the decline in automotive operating cash flow and adjustments to capital expenditures related to EV strategic restructuring.

Sales side, the global automotive sales for the first quarter were 899,000 units, slightly below the market estimate of 902,000 units; the North American market was affected by the winter storm in January, with weaker sales at the beginning of the year and a slight recovery in March, while the Chinese market, along with joint ventures, delivered nearly 350,000 units.

Based on the reduction in tariff costs and the improvement in profitability performance, General Motors raised its guidance for the full year of 2026:

• Adjusted EBIT increased from $13 billion to $15 billion to $13.5 billion to $15.5 billion, mainly reflecting cost improvements from tariff adjustments

• Adjusted EPS increased from $11.00 to $13.00 to $11.50 to $13.50

• Full-year net profit forecasted to be between $9.9 billion and $11.4 billion, while the market estimates about $11.14 billion

• Full-year tariff costs reduced from $3 billion to $4 billion to $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion

After the financial report was released, General Motors' US stock rose more than 4% before the market opened, and the market reacted positively to this better-than-expected performance.