General Motors (GM) versus Its Competitors Financial Analysis

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is one of 119 public companies in the “Automobiles” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare General Motors to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility and Risk

General Motors has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Motors’ competitors have a beta of 1.02, indicating that their average share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares General Motors and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Motors	2.12%	19.36%	4.37%
General Motors Competitors	-1,522.34%	-123.40%	-11.66%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for General Motors and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Motors	1	4	22	1	2.82
General Motors Competitors	2140	5141	6398	191	2.33

General Motors currently has a consensus target price of $101.44, indicating a potential upside of 13.22%. As a group, “Automobiles” companies have a potential upside of 66.44%. Given General Motors’ competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe General Motors has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares General Motors and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Motors	$185.02 billion	$2.70 billion	20.55
General Motors Competitors	$53.35 billion	$1.13 billion	7.51

General Motors has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. General Motors is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of General Motors shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of shares of all “Automobiles” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of General Motors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of shares of all “Automobiles” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

General Motors pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. General Motors pays out 16.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Automobiles” companies pay a dividend yield of 143.3% and pay out 7.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. General Motors has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. General Motors lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

General Motors beats its competitors on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About General Motors

General Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts; and provide software-enabled services and subscriptions worldwide. The company operates through GM North America, GM International, Cruise, and GM Financial segments. It markets its vehicles primarily under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Baojun, and Wuling brand names. In addition, the company sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts through retail dealers, and distributors and dealers, as well as to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. Further, it offers range of after-sale services through dealer network, such as maintenance, light repairs, collision repairs, vehicle accessories, and extended service warranties. Additionally, the company provides automotive financing; and software-enabled services and subscriptions. General Motors Company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.