General Motors Co (GM) stock analysis
General Motors Co (GM) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 2 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 0 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $77.21 it trades 54.0% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -54.0%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +9.9% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does General Motors do?
General Motors designs, builds and sells cars, trucks and SUVs under four main brands, finances them through GM Financial, and is investing in electric and driver-assistance technology.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Chevrolet
- GMC
- Buick
- Cadillac
- GM Financial
- OnStar
What stands out about General Motors?
- The share price implies 19.0% yearly growth. At $77.21, GM's free cash flow of $2.94 per share would have to grow 19.0% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 3 of the 8 value filters. It fails Trailing P/E < 25 (32.94), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.53) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-26.1%); the other 3 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is rising. It went from -69% on Oct 7 to -54% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- P/E at the top of its own range. GM trades at 32.9× trailing earnings; at the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years the multiple was between 4.9× and 29.3×.
- Balance sheet in the grey zone. Its Altman Z″-Score is 1.33; below 1.1 is the distress zone, 1.1 to 2.6 the grey zone. See the Altman Z″-Score list.
How has General Motors' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is General Motors undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -54.0%
- P/E vs. its own history 32.9x · at/above its priciest point Real range: 4.9x–29.3x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.14/5 35 analysts this month: 11 strong buy, 18 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 4.05 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 1.33 · Grey zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean accruals −8.6% of assets · 361% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.2% of revenue · share count −15.7% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +9.9% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 1.0% + buybacks 9.4% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 42%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) n/a (under 8 years of filings)
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 2.53 · Well above fair P/E 32.9× ÷ 13.0% a year of growth behind it. 290th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light (n/a), price Capital-light growth: cannot be measured (under 8 years of filings); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 2.53, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and GM doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: GM and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, and earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry. Where it comes up short: GM isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and GM falls short of his bar. Where it comes up short: GM doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets, is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business, and trades expensive relative to the cash it actually generates.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✕
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does General Motors pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $64.2B
- Trailing P/E < 25 32.94
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 2.53
- Price/Book < 8 1.04
- Price/Sales < 7 0.35
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -26.1%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is General Motors' margin of safety?
-69% on 2026-10-07 → -54% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is General Motors in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in General Motors?
20,048,559 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with General Motors? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +9%
- Short interest under 5% of float 2.4%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 3/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +39% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 1.95 → 2.15
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have General Motors shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from GM's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do General Motors' 10-year financials show?
From GM's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about General Motors
What kind of company is General Motors?
General Motors designs, builds and sells cars, trucks and SUVs under four main brands, finances them through GM Financial, and is investing in electric and driver-assistance technology. Brands and businesses it owns include Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, GM Financial and OnStar. This site groups it with Automobiles stocks.
Is General Motors trading above or below its DCF value?
At $77.21, GM trades 54.0% above this site's neutral DCF value of $50.15 per share, a margin of safety of −54.0%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does General Motors pass?
GM passes 3 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($64.2B), Price/Book < 8 (1.04) and Price/Sales < 7 (0.35). It misses Trailing P/E < 25 (32.94), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.53) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-26.1%). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
What growth is General Motors' share price pricing in?
At $77.21, GM's free cash flow of $2.94 per share would have to grow 19.0% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
How risky is General Motors's balance sheet?
GM's Altman Z″-Score is 1.33, which falls in the grey zone. Altman's own thresholds are above 2.6 for the safe zone, 1.1 to 2.6 for the grey zone and below 1.1 for the distress zone; the score blends working capital, retained earnings, operating profit and equity against liabilities. Its debt-to-equity ratio is 2.06, against a sector median of 2.06. See the Altman Z″-Score list.
Is General Motors's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
GM trades at 32.9× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 4.9× and 29.3× (average 11.5×), so today's multiple is at or above the highest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: General Motors's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Jan 27, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this General Motors Co analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on General Motors Co (GM) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.