GM -- December 18, 2023

Locator: 46336B.

Stories today I'm following:

• resurgence of shale -- at least two big stories;
• the Bakken: flashback; Jane's commentary;
• southern surge and labor shortage;
• Tesla pick-up is not an off-road vehicle
  
• investing:
• Buffett and GM; parted ways earlier this year;
• GS: raises price target on AMD
• AVGO today
• ORCL today
• CAT vs UNP today
• BRK today 

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Buffett and GM: Parted Ways

GM will be a great "trading" stock; whether it's a great investment (30-year horizon) is another story. Investors like Buffett have voiced their opinion, albeit very, very quietly.

GM's Bolt andd Cruise updates are tracked here.

Link here.

 

Barra's place in GM's history is secure. The first woman to lead a global automaker, Barra has now held the top job at the automaker longer than anyone other than Alfred P. Sloan, the architect of GM's rise to become the world's largest industrial corporation during the mid-20th century.

Sloan and his immediate successors faced no serious challenges from Japanese or European automakers and no demands from regulators to abandon fundamental technology.

Competition and regulation have forced Barra to put sustaining profits over defending a sprawling global empire.

Barra sold or closed GM's money-losing operations in Europe, Australia and Southeast Asian markets. GM's market share and profit in China have fallen as the world's largest auto market has shifted to EVs made by Tesla and by BYD and other Chinese automakers.

GM is still No. 1 in U.S. sales volume, but Tesla is by far the more valuable company with a market capitalization of $775 billion to GM's $46 billion.

Like Roger Smith, who led GM during the 1980s, Barra has tried to revive investor interest by repositioning GM as a technology enterprise.

She told investors in October 2021 that GM could double its annual revenue by 2030 to $280 billion by adding EVs, expanding sales of digital subscriptions, ramping up the Cruise robotaxi operation, supplying vehicles to the U.S. military and developing a new electric van delivery service.

But during the second half of 2023, key elements of Barra's growth strategy stalled.

The biggest trouble is at Cruise, which has lost $8 billion since GM acquired it in 2016. Barra has told investors Cruise could generate $50 billion a year in revenue by 2030.

Cruise's future is now uncertain after regulators charged officials with misrepresenting details of an accident in which a Cruise driverless car dragged a pedestrian 20 feet (6.1 m )before stopping.

The Cruise incident has put Barra back in the role of crisis manager.

Shortly after she took over as CEO in 2014, she faced a scandal over GM's mishandling of deadly ignition switches. Barra resolved that in part by commissioning an outside law firm to investigate GM's mishandling of safety recalls. She embraced the firm's scathing critique of GM's culture.

Barra has again engaged an outside law firm and technical experts to investigate Cruise's response to the accident. Cruise's CEO, Kyle Vogt, has left the company. The unit's new leaders, including GM's chief counsel Craig Glidden, have pledged to cooperate with regulators.

Unless I missed it, the article failed to mention the thousands of workers GM will layoff after Christmas.

Yes, Barra's history with GM is secure. 

Something happened on the way to the forum: 2023 was to be the breakout year for Mary Barra and GM.