You’ve probably looked at a balance sheet before and felt that immediate urge to close the tab. I get it. Reading General Motors Company financial statements feels like trying to decipher a map of the moon while someone screams about interest rates in your ear. But here’s the thing: if you actually want to know if GM is a "zombie" car company or a tech giant in disguise, you have to look past the top-line revenue.
Money moves through Detroit in weird ways.
Most people just see the sticker price on a Chevy Silverado and think that’s where the story ends. It isn't. The real story is buried in the 10-K filings, specifically in the massive gap between their "Automotive" and "GM Financial" segments. One makes the cars; the other makes the money that makes the cars possible. It's a feedback loop that most casual investors completely miss.
The Revenue Illusion in General Motors Company Financial Statements
GM’s revenue is massive. We are talking over $170 billion in recent annual cycles. That sounds like an unbeatable fortress, right? Well, not exactly. You have to look at the cost of sales.
In the world of legacy auto, margins are razor-thin compared to software. While a company like Microsoft might enjoy gross margins north of 70%, GM is out here fighting for every percentage point. Historically, their adjusted EBIT margins (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) hover around 8% to 13% in a good year. If steel prices spike or a strike shuts down a plant in Arlington, those margins evaporate.
Look at the income statement. You’ll see "Automotive Revenue" and then you’ll see "GM Financial Revenue."
GM Financial is the captive lending arm. They are the ones giving out the loans. When interest rates are high, this part of the financial statement becomes a minefield. If people stop paying their car notes, GM feels it twice: once because they can't sell a new car, and once because the loan on the old car just went belly up.
Why the Balance Sheet Looks Terrifying (But Maybe Isn't)
If you pull up the General Motors Company financial statements and look at the total liabilities, you might gasp. It’s a huge number. We’re talking over $200 billion in total liabilities.
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"How are they not bankrupt?"
That’s what everyone asks. The secret is that a huge chunk of that debt belongs to the financing side, not the manufacturing side. It’s "serviceable debt." They borrow money to lend it to you at a higher rate. That’s just banking. What you really need to watch is the Automotive Debt. That’s the money they’ve borrowed to build EV battery plants in Ohio or to keep the lights on during a transition.
As of their latest filings, GM’s automotive liquidity is usually quite strong—often north of $30 billion. That’s their "war chest." It’s the cash and credit lines they keep in the basement for when the economy decides to take a nosedive.
The Cash Flow Statement is the Only Truth
Net income is a lie. Okay, maybe not a lie, but it’s an opinion. Accountants use depreciation, amortization, and one-time charges to make net income look like whatever the board wants.
If you want the truth, go to the Statement of Cash Flows.
Specifically, look at Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities. This tells you how much actual green paper flowed into the company from selling cars and parts. Then, subtract "Capital Expenditures" (CapEx). This is the money they spent on "property, plant, and equipment."
In the 2024 and 2025 cycles, GM’s CapEx has been enormous. Why? Because transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) is expensive. They are tearing down old internal combustion lines and building "Ultium" battery facilities. When you see a high CapEx, it means the company is betting on the future, but it also means there’s less "Free Cash Flow" to give back to shareholders as dividends or buybacks.
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Mary Barra, the CEO, has been very clear: they are playing the long game. But the financial statements show the strain. You can see the tension between keeping the high-margin Corvette and Suburban production humming while pouring billions into the "Lyriq" and "Blazer EV" programs that haven't yet reached the same profitability scale.
The Pension Monster
One thing you won't find in a sleek Tesla financial report is a massive legacy pension obligation. GM is an old company. A very old company.
For decades, their General Motors Company financial statements were haunted by "underfunded pension liabilities." They owed more to retired workers than they had in the bank. However, over the last ten years, they’ve done a decent job of de-risking this. They’ve offloaded some of it to insurance companies and funded the rest.
It’s still there, though. It’s a "fixed cost" that modern startups simply don't have. It’s like running a marathon with a 20-pound backpack. You can still win, but you have to work twice as hard as the kid in the aerodynamic singlet.
Inventory: The Silent Killer
Watch the "Inventory" line on the balance sheet.
In the car business, inventory is a double-edged sword. If it’s too low, you lose sales to Ford or Toyota because the customer wants a truck today. If it’s too high, you have to offer massive "incentives" (discounts) to clear the lots.
When you see inventory rising faster than revenue in the General Motors Company financial statements, it’s a red flag. It means cars are sitting. It means a "price war" is coming. And in a price war, margins are the first casualty.
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During the chip shortages of 2021 and 2022, inventory was record-low, which meant GM could charge whatever they wanted. Now? The lots are filling back up. The financial statements are starting to show a return to the "old way" of doing business: lots of cars, lots of deals, and lots of pressure on the bottom line.
Real Numbers You Should Care About
Instead of getting lost in the weeds, focus on these three things the next time an earnings report drops:
- Average Transaction Price (ATP): Is it going up or down? If people are buying $80,000 Yukons, GM is happy. If they are shifting to $25,000 Trax models, the revenue might stay the same, but the profit will crater.
- EV Variable Profit: GM has promised that their EVs will be "variable profit positive" soon. This means the car costs less to build than it sells for—excluding the billions spent on the factory. Until this happens, every EV they sell is technically losing them money.
- Share Buybacks: Look at the "Financing Activities" section. GM has been aggressively buying back its own stock. This reduces the "Shares Outstanding" and makes the "Earnings Per Share" (EPS) look better. It’s a way to reward loyal shareholders even when the business is in a messy transition.
The 10-Q and 10-K filings are long. They are boring. They are full of legalese about "regulatory credits" and "currency fluctuations" in South America. But they are the only place where the marketing fluff dies and the reality of global manufacturing begins.
GM isn't just a car company anymore; it’s a massive capital-reallocation machine trying to turn gasoline profits into electric infrastructure without breaking the bank.
Actionable Insights for Analyzing GM’s Financial Health
If you are tracking the General Motors Company financial statements for investment or research purposes, stop looking at the news headlines and do this instead:
- Compare Automotive Interest Expense to GM Financial’s Income: This reveals how much the cost of borrowing is eating into their actual car-making profits. If interest expense is rising faster than EBIT, the "war chest" is shrinking.
- Track "Days Supply" of Inventory: You can often find this in the supplemental data or management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) section. Anything over 60-70 days for trucks starts to get risky.
- Monitor the Cruise Segment: GM’s self-driving unit, Cruise, is a massive cash burn. Check the "Income from Discontinued Operations" or "Corporate/Other" segments to see exactly how many hundreds of millions they are spending on robotaxis every quarter.
- Check the Dividend Coverage Ratio: Divide the Free Cash Flow by the total dividends paid. If the ratio is less than 2.0, the dividend might be at risk if the economy slows down.
The most important thing to remember is that GM is cyclical. Their financial statements will always look amazing at the top of the economy and terrifying at the bottom. The trick is finding the stability in between.