By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Rising factory output led to strong U.S. sales at the end of last year, pushing General Motors’ fourth-quarter net income up 16% over the same period a year ago.
The Detroit automaker made $1.99 billion from October through December, or an adjusted $2.12 per share, easily beating Wall Street per-share projections for $1.69, according to a poll of industry analysts by FactSet.
Quarterly revenue rose 28% to $43.1 billion, the company said Tuesday, also beating estimates for $39.96 billion.
The performance came against the backdrop of a slowing economy due to interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, is now in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, up from near zero last March.
GM, like other automakers, had trouble keeping its factories running at full output during 2022, but the industry and the company started showing signs of recovery late in the year.
GM sold 2.27 million vehicles for the year, up 2.5% over 2021. But fourth-quarter sales were up 41% to more than 623,000. By the end of the year the supply of vehicles on dealer lots had improved 14% to almost 411,000.
Experts don’t expect a return to normal vehicle supplies until sometime next year.
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