Companies · GM · Auto & Truck
What does General Motors' price assume?
The margin the price assumes
Revenue grows as its record suggests; the operating margin is solved at today's price.
At $88.90 on November 11, 2026, with growth of 3.1% a year, the price assumes an operating margin of 12.9% by year 5.
The price assumes
12.9%
Operating margin by year 5, solved at the price
Its 2-year median
4.2%
Fiscal 2024–2025, adjusted for R&D and leases
Its industry
2.5%
Auto & Truck, Damodaran Online, January 2026
The price assumes a margin above the company's own median and above its industry's.
The numbers behind the chart
| Fiscal year | Adjusted operating margin |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 6.8% |
| 2025 | 1.6% |
- Revenue growth, years 1 to 5
- 3.1% a yearFrom its own revenue growth, the lower of its 5- and 10-year rates (here the 10-year).SEC filings, revenue to fiscal 2025
- Margin path
- From today's margin to 12.9% by year 5Solved at the price. After that, the margin holds.
The growth the price assumes
At its median margin, no revenue growth between −50% and 100% a year matches today's price.
The assumptions both views share
These are neutral settings, the same for every company. Each view holds them and solves for one driver at today's price.
- Reinvestment
- $1.08 of revenue for each $1 investedThe industry's sales-to-capital ratio: how much new capital growth needs.Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Auto & Truck
- Cost of capital
- 12.04%The return investors need for the risk: the industry's beta, the market's risk premium, and debt rated Caa/CCC from its median margin, with a stated 5-year debt maturity. Built by the engine from the parts listed under Sources, each with its date.
- After year 10
- Growth at the riskfree rate, foreverNew investment earns its cost of capital and no more, so growth after year 10 adds no value, and the cost of capital moves to a mature company's.
Worth knowing
- Its adjusted record has 2 complete years, not ten.
- Revenue grew 8.6% a year over five years and grew 3.1% over ten: the record points two ways.
- Its debt is large against its usual earnings: rated Caa/CCC at its median margin.
This is a mechanical starting point with neutral assumptions, not a valuation. The story decides.
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- Price: Qualuation's records, close of November 11, 2026.
- 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2025, filed January 27, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001467858-26-000013).
- 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2026, filed October 20, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001467858-26-000059).
- Margin record: SEC filings, fiscal 2024-2025, operating margin adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Industry margin: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Auto & Truck, adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Sales to capital: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Auto & Truck.
- US 10-year Treasury yield (FRED), October 29, 2026.
- Less the US default spread (Damodaran Online, July 2026).
- Industry beta, Auto & Truck (Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- Equity risk premium (Damodaran Online, October 2026).
- Debt rated Caa/CCC at its median margin (rating table, Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- The margin the price assumes: solved by the engine at the price on November 12, 2026, with the assumptions above.