let's bring in pauline Alekos
investing reporter at U. S.
News and World report paulina, good to have you here, Thanks so much for joining us.
So what are you looking forward to today when it comes to G. M's earnings reports.
Thanks so much for having me.
So,
investors are going to want to understand what the short term
and long term view of what the company looks like.
So when GM is going to provide its 2022 outlook on
what the company is going to deliver investors first and foremost,
are going to want to understand how the company has been able to navigate the chip
shortage and how they're going to be able to do that throughout the year to come.
Um, and that's because GMS competitors like Tesla and Toyota,
we're able to deliver on their earnings despite the chip shortage.
And I would also say another factor that investors are looking forward to is
GMS production because in 2021 GM had low inventory as consumer demand was rising.
So investors are going to want to understand if that
production has increased throughout the last quarter of 2021.
Yeah,
let's talk about that in particular because GMS fourth
quarter vehicle deliveries down 43% year over year.
I mean,
how much of a concern is that gonna be for the rest of the forward guidance here?
I think that could be a particular concern and
definitely one of the factors that investors have,
top of mind if we look at GM stock, it's already down roughly 10% year to date.
So it had a rough start to 2022. Um, but then again, the S&P 500 index is also down.
Um, I would say that, you know, to your point baker, the inventory is an issue,
especially since
um,
Especially since, you know, the semiconductor shortage,
this is a very big challenge for the auto
industry and we can see this because GM got knocked
off its 90 year streak as the automaker that that
sold the most cars in the us to Toyota.
And while this trend is unlikely to continue, I think, you know,
that made a huge statement.
Toyota sales for 2021 were up 10% while GM US car sales were down about 13%.
But I think if we boil down to its investors are going
to look at two factors which I believe are going to impact
GMS stock price after they report on the bell and that is
how the company is able to navigate the chip shortage and um,
what production will look like throughout the year.
Yeah.
And I'm glad you mentioned that Toyota news because Toyota even
saying they're not even gonna use that in the market.
And as a marketing tactic whatsoever,
which I think is so interesting because if you've
beaten somebody for the first time in 90 years,
you should tell everybody that you're the biggest selling automaker out there.
Do you think that that's sort of gonna just be a blip and that GM can basically
overtake Toyota or do you see that as a potential headache for them down the road?
Well,
I think that this is going to be a blip
because even executives from Toyota came out and said that,
you know,
this is great that we're able to deliver on earnings and deliveries and sales.
Um and I think it's impressive that Toyota was
able to navigate the chip shortage very well.
They're a leader in terms of their operations and um and that's great for Toyota,
but I I think that, you know, despite all the challenges that GM is facing,
they're still going to um deliver um but even if they do deliver their stock price,
might might waver
paulina while I still got you.
How important will electric vehicle distribution be for GM in this,
at least when it comes to guidance moving forward here.
Very important, a very important factor.
Last week,
GM announced that they're investing $7 billion Michigan
and the purpose of these facilities is to
ramp up capacity to build out batteries as
well as the electric pickup truck manufacturing.
So,
we know that GM wants to be an E V market leader by 2025 they're pouring
billions of dollars into investments in this space
to build out fleets of new electric vehicles.
GM even came out saying that they believe that
they're going to surpass Tesla as a market leader.
So not only looking forward to what comes out of earnings this afternoon, but also,
you know, for the future of what GM has to offer good stuff,
great breakdown Polina Alecos, investing reporter at U.
S.
News and World Report, joining us this morning, paulina,
thank you so much for joining us.