General Motors (GM) earnings Q4 2021

General Motors said it expects to generate an operating profit this year of between $13 billion and $15 billion as a semiconductor shortage that marred vehicle production and sales for most of last year shows signs of improving.

The forecast, including adjusted earnings per share of between $6.25 and $7.25, is in line with many Wall Street analysts’ expectations as well as the company’s record $14.3 billion pre-tax adjusted earnings in 2021.

Net income this year is expected between $9.4 billion and $10.8 billion, also in-line with its $10 billion profit in 2021, GM said.

“With an improving outlook for semiconductors in the U.S. and China, we expect our 2022 results will remain strong,” CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders, saying it’s earnings will be “at or near record levels.”

Shares of the automaker jumped in afterhours trading by more than 2%. The stock closed Tuesday at $54.07 a share, up by 2.5%.

Barra said the company does not plan to reinstate its dividend at this time, which the automaker cut during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020. She said the company plans to use the saved capital for accelerating, even increasing, its $35 billion in investments in electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025.

The company plans to spend between about $9 billion and $10 billion a year in the medium term, including in 2022.

The guidance was announced as the Detroit automaker reported fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday that beat Wall Street’s expectations despite slightly missing on revenue.

Here’s how GM performed, compared with analysts’ estimates as compiled by Refinitiv:

• Adjusted EPS: $1.35 vs $1.19 expected
• Revenue: $33.58 billion vs $34.01 billion expected

For the fourth quarter, GM’s unadjusted net income was $1.7 billion. Its pre-tax adjusted earnings were more than $2.8 billion. That compares to an adjusted pretax profit of $3.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. Revenue was $37.5 billion during that quarter.

GM’s North American operations contributed the most to the company’s profits in 2021. The market last year generated more than $10.3 billion, including $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter. The automaker’s financial arm followed the North American operations in generating more than $5 billion in 2021, including about $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter.

GM’s international operating only earned $827 million, including $275 million. The company last year spent about $1.2 billion on its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise.

After rising 40% in 2021, GM’s shares fell 10% in January. GM’s stock has a buy rating and a price target of $76.07 a share, according to average analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet.

Barra said GM is in the process of accelerating its investments in the emerging EV segment.

She said the company is planning to pull ahead an undisclosed amount of capital from the second half of the decade to increase its plans to invest $35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles by 2025.

“We’re just going to keep going full-out,” she told analysts during a call Tuesday.

Barra also confirmed the company will announce a third plant to produce battery-electric trucks in the foreseeable future as well as the location of a fourth production facility for battery cells with LG Energy Solution during the first half of this year.

GM last month announced plans to increase EV production capacity in North America to 1 million units by 2025, as the company targets to become America’s top-seller of such vehicles through that timeframe.