Honestly, if you looked at a chart of General Motors Corporation stock back in 2023 and then blinked, you probably wouldn’t recognize where it sits today in January 2026. For years, the narrative around Detroit was basically a funeral march. Everyone said Tesla had won, China was coming for the rest, and legacy auto was just a group of "walking dead" companies.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the graveyard.
As of mid-January 2026, GM isn't just surviving; it’s actually thriving in a way that’s making the "EV or bust" crowd look a little silly. The stock recently hit an all-time high of $85.13 on January 8, 2026. That’s a massive swing from the lows we saw just a year or two ago. People are finally realizing that while being the "future" is cool, actually making billions of dollars in profit from gas-powered trucks right now is what keeps the lights on.
The Reality Check on the EV Pivot
Let’s be real: the grand plan to go all-electric by 2035 has hit some major speed bumps. Mary Barra, GM’s CEO, spent most of 2025 and the start of 2026 recalibrating. You’ve probably heard about the "Ultium" brand being retired or scaled back. GM basically realized that sticking a fancy name on a battery platform didn't matter as much as just making cars people could actually afford.
Investors used to punish GM for every EV delay. Now? They’re cheering.
The market finally rewarded the "strategic realism" of slowing down. In late 2025, GM took some heavy hits—we're talking a $7.1 billion charge in Q4—to unwind some of those aggressive EV investments and settle supplier contracts. It sounds like a disaster, right? Wrong. The stock actually held up. Why? Because it showed the adults were back in the room. Instead of burning cash on EVs that were sitting on dealer lots, GM shifted production back toward high-margin monsters like the Silverado and Sierra.
- Pivoting Orion Assembly: GM moved this plant back to focusing on internal combustion trucks and SUVs because that’s where the "unmet demand" actually lives.
- The Hybrid Return: They’ve confirmed plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are coming back to the North American lineup by 2027. It’s a complete 180 from their "all-EV" stance three years ago.
- Cost Discipline: By cutting 3,400 jobs at battery and EV plants recently, they’re protecting the bottom line.
Why the Numbers Actually Work
If you’re looking at General Motors Corporation stock from a pure value perspective, it’s still kinda weirdly cheap. Even with the recent rally to the $80 range, the Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio sits around 15.8x. Compare that to the broader tech sector or even some of the pure-play EV companies, and it looks like a steal.
Some analysts, like those at Simply Wall St, have used discounted cash flow models to peg the intrinsic value closer to $97 per share. That suggests there’s still roughly 16% upside if the market starts valuing GM like a tech-integrated powerhouse rather than just a "car company."
Revenue for 2025 hovered around $187.4 billion. That is a lot of metal moving off the lots. While new vehicle sales across the industry are projected to dip slightly to 15.8 million units in 2026, GM’s market share in the U.S. has stayed remarkably sticky, lately hitting over 17%.
What’s the Deal With the Dividend?
Income investors aren't exactly getting rich off the yield, but it's there. The current quarterly dividend is $0.15 per share, which works out to about a 0.74% yield. It’s tiny, sure. But it’s consistent. The board has increased it for three years straight now. More importantly, the payout ratio is only about 17%. That means they could double the dividend tomorrow and still have plenty of cash to build engines. They won't, though. They’d rather use that cash for buybacks or to fix the mess that was Cruise.
The Robotaxi Ghost in the Machine
We have to talk about Cruise. It was supposed to be the "moonshot" that justified a $100 stock price. Then, 2023 happened. After a robotaxi dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco, the wheels fell off—literally and figuratively.
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By late 2025, GM basically pulled the plug on the venture in its original form. They stopped funding the robotaxi-only dream and shifted those brains toward Super Cruise and "personal autonomy."
Basically, they want to sell you a car that drives itself on the highway rather than running a fleet of driverless Ubers. They even hired Sterling Anderson, the former Tesla Autopilot lead, to right the ship. It was a smart move. People trust a "hands-free" Cadillac more than they trust a ghost car with no steering wheel.
The 2026 Outlook: What to Watch
If you’re holding or eyeing General Motors Corporation stock, the next few months are all about the "transition phase." The 2024-2025 hype is dead. Now we're in the execution era.
- The Equinox EV Recall: Keep an eye on the 81,000 Equinox EVs recalled for pedestrian alert issues. It’s a software fix, but it shows the "growing pains" aren't over.
- Software Revenue: GM thinks they can hit $25 billion in software-related revenue by 2030. That’s things like OnStar subscriptions and Super Cruise upgrades. If that number starts ticking up in the 2026 earnings calls, the stock multiple will finally expand.
- The USMCA Renegotiation: This is the big "macro" cloud. In 2026, the trade deal is up for review. Since GM builds a lot of parts in Mexico and Canada, any new tariffs would hurt margins instantly.
Actionable Insights for Investors
So, what do you actually do with this?
First, stop treating GM like a "dinosaur." A dinosaur doesn't generate $10 billion in free cash flow while transitioning to a new propulsion system.
Second, look at the $88 to $96 price targets from the big banks. Goldman Sachs is still bullish because of "pricing discipline." As long as GM doesn't get into a price war with Ford or Tesla and keeps those Silverado prices high, they are a cash machine.
Third, watch the software. The real "alpha" in this stock isn't the number of trucks sold; it’s the number of people paying $25 a month for hands-free driving. If you want to play the long game, ignore the monthly delivery "noise" and focus on the quarterly EBIT margins. If they stay above 7%, the floor for the stock is a lot higher than people think.
To stay ahead of the next move, you should monitor the Q4 2025 earnings release on January 27, 2026. That report will confirm if the $7.1 billion charge was truly the "clearing of the decks" the market expects, or if there's more baggage hidden in the transition to the 2027 hybrid lineup.