General Motors posted a $3.3 billion net profit in the third quarter, beating Wall Street’s expectations, as the Detroit automaker sees strong demand ahead.
The third-quarter 37% net-profit rise was cheered by investors as GM shares were up nearly 2.5% in early trading on Tuesday.
“We’re delivering on our commitments and affirming our full-year guidance despite a challenging environment, because demand continues to be strong for GM products and we are actively managing the headwinds we face,” said GM CEO Mary Barra.
Amid concerns that a U.S. economic slowdown could hurt demand for new vehicles, GM still expects full-year net income of between $9.6 billion and $11.2 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $13 billion and $15 billion.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the company expects to hit the “mid-point” of its earnings guidance for the year. “We’re going to continue to be agile,” he said to reporters during a media call. “We continue to see that strong demand.”
Jacobson said GM expects U.S. industry sales next year of 15 million, compared with expectations of around 13.7 million this year.
GM said that by the end of June it had been able to clear out of inventory about 75% of the roughly 90,000 vehicles it had not been able to complete because of missing parts.
