General Motors on Tuesday announced a new $6 billion stock buyback has been approved by its board.
The move comes as the Detroit automaker prepares to close an accelerated $10 billion stock repurchase this month. That buyback, which was announced in November on the heels of the ratification of its agreement with union autoworkers, was previously expected to close during the last three months of 2024.
“We are very focused on the profitability of our [internal combustion engine] business, we’re growing and improving the profitability of our [electric vehicle] business and deploying our capital efficiently,” CFO Paul Jacobson said in a statement. “This allows us to continue returning cash to shareholders.”
The new authorization will allow GM to continue to repurchase shares after its existing plan closes. The company did not announce an approximate timeframe for the completion of the $6 billion buyback.
GM stock nudged up more than 1% in pre-market trading Tuesday. Shares have climbed about 32% this year.
Between 2022 and the first half of 2024, GM’s share repurchases have reached a total of $15 billion. When combined with dividends over that time period, it comes out to about $16.1 billion in total returns, RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said in a note Tuesday. That’s equivalent to 30% of GM’s market capitalization.
“The new authorization provides evidence that GM is committed to continuing to return capital to shareholders and that 2023 was not a one-off,” Narayan added.
The move builds on GM’s strong first quarter, which saw its earnings per share climb 18.5% and revenue jump almost 8% to $43 billion. The automaker also raised its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings to between $12.5 billion and $14.5 billion.
