One Wall Street auto analyst said in a note to clients that General Motors is poised to take over the car industry, even eclipsing EV-leader Tesla.
Citi’s Itay Michaeli issued a note where he set an $87 target price for GM stock, which would be about a 187% upside in the shares. In the note he adds that he expects Tesla to decline roughly 52%. On Friday, GM was up 2%.
Michaeli lists several reasons he picked up in a meeting with GM’s executive team, for his optimistic expectations heading toward 2023. First as we fully exit the pandemic phase of the economy, and return to normal, he sees strong demand for autos, between the normal demand you would expect, and the pent up demand left over from the pandemic. Added to that, in September GM will present its new Equinox EV crossover, as well as introduce its new autonomous driving unit, which it is calling Cruise. GM is also about to begin ramping up production of its custom-designed Ultium batteries, which will offer better, more cost effective post-purchase repair and upgrade options for EV batteries, as well as diminish EV production costs. And on top of that, Michaeli notes that commodity costs are on the downswing, which will reduce manufacturing costs, increasing GM’s profits per vehicle going forward.
Michaeli added, “We were encouraged by management’s tone at our meeting.”
GM has also recently reinstated its dividend at 9 cents per share. GM had halted dividends during in April of 2020, due to the pandemic, as the economy shut down and supply lines became impossibly tangled, limiting access to critical components like wiring harnesses and computer chips. GM also lifted its share buyback plan, from $3.3 billion to $5 billion.
In a statement, GM CEO Mary Barra said, “GM is investing more than $35 billion through 2025 to advance our growth plan, including rapidly expanding our electric vehicle portfolio and creating a domestic battery manufacturing infrastructure. Progress on these key strategic initiatives has improved our visibility and strengthened confidence in our capacity to fund growth while also returning capital to shareholders.”
Taken together, Michaeli feels, GM has the resources, the infrastructure, and with its new batteries and manufacturing facility, the technology, to take on Tesla head to head, and seize its market share. Time will tell.
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