GM Q3 earnings preview: 'Core' franchise likely doing well with guidance in focus

GM ( GM ) will report third quarter results before the bell Tuesday, with investors expecting the Big Three automaker to keep growing profit and perhaps raise its guidance.

For the quarter, GM is expected to report Q3 revenue of $48.52 billion per Bloomberg consensus, slightly above last quarter's $48.03 billion. GM's adjusted earnings per share are estimated at $3.57, with adjusted EBIT coming in at $4.02 billion.

In addition to government offsets that are reducing its tariff bill, GM has spent the past year reworking its supply chain, shifting production, and negotiating with suppliers to blunt the tariff hit.

That allowed GM to raise its full-year 2026 guidance for a second time this year after the release of Q2 results.

Adjusted EBIT of 14.0billion-16.0 billion (prior 13.5billion-15.5 billion)

Adjusted EPS of 12.00-14.00 (prior 11.50-13.50)

Adjusted automotive free cash flow of 9.5billion-11.5 billion (prior 9billion-11 billion)

Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives believes GM will satisfy investors with its Q3 numbers.

"We believe the print will show the core franchise doing what it has done all year: producing the cash and pricing discipline that fund the software and autonomy roadmap at the center of our thesis," he wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

Ives has an Outperform rating on GM, with a $100 price target.

While profits have been growing, overall sales have been slipping.

Earlier this month, GM reported third quarter US sales of 670,974 vehicles , a drop of 5.5% compared to a year ago, as a collapse in EV sales offset gains from its pickups and small SUV s.

Based on GM's model-by-model figures, EV sales fell about 62% to roughly 25.5K units, shrinking to under 4% of GM's US volume from more than 9% a year ago. Excluding EVs, GM's sales were essentially flat, up 0.3%.

Sales of the Chevrolet Equinox EV plunged 92.4% to 1,905, the Blazer EV dropped 84.4%, the GMC Hummer EV slid 72.9%, and the Cadillac Lyriq fell 50.5%.

GM's gas-powered trucks helped deflect EV losses. Light-duty pickup sales rose 9.3%, led by a 13.3% jump in the Chevrolet Silverado light-duty to 100,221, while the GMC Sierra light-duty gained 2.9%. Heavy-duty models were softer, with the Silverado HD down 10.1% and the Sierra HD off 6.9%. GM said it is on track to lead the full-size pickup segment for a seventh straight year.

Despite decent financial performance for GM this year and boosted guidance, the stock is only marginally higher for the year, up around 1.6%.

Pras Subramanian is Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram .