Business
GM expects next year’s results to top 2025 earnings
The GM logo is seen on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit on March 16, 2021.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT — General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson on Tuesday said the company expects earnings next year to top its 2025 results, which have performed far better than Wall Street’s expectations.
Investors had been hoping to hear comments about 2026 guidance as the automaker reported third-quarter earnings that included raising 2025 guidance and topping Wall Street’s expectations.
“Looking ahead to 2026, we have multiple levers to carry our current momentum forward, including progress on [electric vehicle] losses, warranty costs, tariff offsets, regulatory requirements and fixed costs,” Jacobson said. “As a result, we expect next year to be even better than 2025.”
The company’s shares rose more than 15% on Tuesday. The stock closed Monday at $58 per share.
Jacobson also said the automaker will continue to repurchase shares, which the company has been aggressive about in recent years. At the end of the third quarter, GM’s outstanding shares were at 954 million, a 15% decline from a year earlier.
“We’re going to continue to just focus on executing the business and executing the plan, and that’s worked really well for us and we expect it will in ’26,” Jacobson said.
GM stock in 2025.
Jacobson and GM CEO Mary Barra said the company’s top priority is returning adjusted profit margins in North America – its core market – to 8% to 10% but did not give a time frame for meeting that goal. The margin was 6.2% during the third quarter.
GM’s updated 2025 guidance includes adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $12 billion and $13 billion, or $9.75 to $10.50 adjusted EPS, up from $10 billion to $12.5 billion, or $8.25 to $10 adjusted EPS, and adjusted automotive free cash flow of $10 billion to $11 billion, up from $7.5 billion to $10 billion.
“This commentary is encouraging and consistent with our incoming view that automakers could convey positive messaging beyond 2025,” TD Cowen analyst Itay Michaeli said Tuesday in an investor note about 2026.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said he expects 2026 analyst consensus to “move significantly higher” following the third-quarter results and adjusted guidance.
Citi’s Michael Ward said the recent results and guidance signal a larger cultural change for GM: “In the past it was said it was difficult to turn the big ship GM too quickly. Given the changing landscape, GM has found a way to turn it much faster than in the past.”
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
Correction: At the end of the third quarter, GM’s outstanding shares were at 954 million. An earlier version mischaracterized the figure.
Jonah FisherEnvironment correspondent
Getty ImagesFining English water companies for spilling raw sewage will soon become quicker and easier, the government has said.
New proposals would see automatic fines of up to £20,000 issued for some minor offences and make it simpler to punish more serious ones.
In recent years data from the water industry’s own monitoring equipment has shown how frequently rules are broken around sewage spills. But the regulator, the Environment Agency, has by its own admission struggled to act.
“I want to give the Environment Agency the teeth it needs to tackle all rule breaking,” said Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, announcing the proposals.
“With new, automatic and tougher penalties for water companies, there will be swift consequences for offences – including not treating sewage to the required standard, and maintenance failures,” she said.
The plans will be put to a six-week public consultation starting on Wednesday.
The English water companies welcomed the proposals, with a spokesperson for trade body Water UK saying: “It is right that water companies are held to account when things go wrong.”
Getty ImagesFor the most serious pollution offences, the enforcement system remains the same. The EA has to take water companies to court and prove to a criminal standard that an offence has been committed “beyond a reasonable doubt”. If that prosecution results in a conviction the company could have to pay a large fine, possibly in the millions of pounds.
The new proposals are focused on more minor offences which happen frequently and have in the past gone largely unpunished.
The plans would see automatic financial penalties of up to £20,000 introduced for rule breaches such as failure to report a significant pollution incident within four hours, failure to report spill data properly or if emergency overflow outlets discharge sewage more than three times in a year.
For some more serious offences the government wants to make it easier for the EA to take action.
So it’s proposing that the burden of proof be reduced from “beyond all reasonable doubt” – the norm for criminal proceedings – to “on the balance of probabilities”, which is used in civil cases. The fines which the EA can impose without going to court could be increased to a maximum of half a million pounds.
The reduced burden of proof for some offences is already written into law, having been part of the Water (Special Measures) Act which received Royal Assent in February 2025. This six-week consultation is to determine which offences should be included, and the level of the fines.
“Fines of £500,000 are pocket change to billion-pound companies like Thames Water,” says James Wallace, the CEO of campaign group River Action.
“Higher penalties and urgent, wholesale reform are essential to prevent negligent firms polluting our rivers and short-changing their customers.”
Inflation is expected to increase to its highest level for 21 months as more pressure piles on the Chancellor and the Bank of England.
Economists have predicted Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation will have hit 4% in September, when the Office for National Statistics reveals its latest data on Wednesday.
It would mark the highest level since January 2024.
Inflation struck 3.8% in July and August amid pressure from rising food prices, as firms highlighted increased tax and labour costs.
Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics predicted that higher motor fuel and airfare prices would help drive inflation to 4% in September.
It also pointed towards “strong clothes prices” for the month, but indicated this could be offset by “slightly softer” services price inflation.
Economists have also suggested there could be a contribution from increased private school fees.
Some schools were expected to increase fees from the start of the new school year as they staggered higher costs for parents after the Government introduced a 20% VAT rate for private school fees at the start of the year.
September’s predicted jump in inflation could represent a peak in the rising cost of living for UK households.
The Bank of England previously forecast that inflation would peak at around 4% in September before steadily falling.
Pantheon Macroeconomics’ Rob Wood has said he expects inflation to “slow only slightly” in the following months, dipping to 3.8% by the end of the year.
Other economists have been more optimistic, with Investec suggesting it expects the rate to have peaked at 3.9% in September before falling.
Any increase would still highlight a challenging economic backdrop for the Bank of England as it seeks to bring inflation down to its 2% target rate.
Last week, the Bank’s top economist Huw Pill urged other rate-setters to be “more cautious” about future cuts due to concerns that inflation could stay stubbornly high.
Another rise in inflation could also be a major concern for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, a month ahead of her autumn Budget.
The September inflation rate is typically used to decide the level of increase for many benefits, such as universal credit, tax credits and disability benefits.
This rate is also a key part of the pension triple lock, which is used to decide how much pensions will increase by in the following April.
However, the increase is based on either this inflation rate, average earnings growth between May and July, or 2.5%.
Given earnings growth was confirmed as 4.8%, the inflation rate will only be used if there is a shock acceleration beyond this level.
A rise in inflation in September could result in higher-than-expected spending when the Chancellor is already looking to fill a black hole in the state finances.
However, higher inflation would also contribute to a higher tax take, with the September rate also typically used to calculate some annual tax increases such as for business rates.
Meanwhile, Ms Reeves is reportedly set to launch a £2 billion tax raid on lawyers, family doctors and accountants by imposing a new charge on people who use limited liability partnerships.
Generally, individuals in such partnerships are treated as self-employed and not subject to employer national insurance, which is levied at 15%.
The charge on partnerships will be levied at a slightly lower rate than the employers’ rate of national insurance in a bid to “equalise tax treatment,” The Times reported.
The Treasury declined to comment.
The Mattel, Inc. logo is displayed outside the headquarters of the toy company known for products including Barbie and Hot Wheels in El Segundo, California on June 8, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Barbie-maker Mattel posted third-quarter results after the market close on Tuesday that missed analysts’ expectations as ongoing global tariffs continue to hamper the toy manufacturer’s sales in North America.
Shares of the company fell 4% in after hours trading.
Here’s what Mattel reported for its third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 89 cents adjusted vs. $1.07 expected
- Revenue: $1.74 billion vs. $1.83 billion expected
For the quarter ended September 30, the company reported net income of $278 million, or 88 cents per share, down from $372 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, including costs associated with restructuring and certain product recalls, per-share profit was 89 cents.
Net sales fell 6% to $1.74 billion, coming in short of Wall Street’s expectations.
This is the first time in three quarters that the toy giant has missed on both earnings and revenue expectations.
In May, Mattel pulled its annual financial targets and said it would increase prices for some products in the U.S. to counter higher input costs due to the Trump administration’s tariffs on key trading partners.
On Tuesday the company issued full-year guidance that calls for net sales to increase between 1% and 3% and for earnings per share to come in between $1.54 and $1.66.
“While our U.S. business was challenged in the third quarter by industry-wide shifts in retailer ordering patterns, the fundamentals of our business are strong,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said in a release. “Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, orders from retailers in the US have accelerated significantly.”
Tariffs have put pressure on toy manufacturers industry-wide. Approximately half of Mattel’s global toy sales come from the U.S., and by the end of the year, less than 40% of Mattel’s product will be sourced from China, Kreiz noted on CNBC in May.
During the third quarter, sales in North America fell 12%, with the largest year over year declines in the company’s infant, toddler and preschool category. International sales meanwhile climbed 3%.
Overall, sales for two of Mattel’s largest toy brands saw declining sales: Global Barbie sales fell 17% from the same quarter a year earlier, and Fisher-Price sales dropped 19%. The company’s global Hot Wheels sales ticked up 8%.
Moving forward, Mattel has focused on expanding its entertainment offerings and employing new technology. On Tuesday, Mattel and Hasbro partnered with Netflix to capitalize on the success of the movie “KPop Demon Hunters” to offer dolls and other consumer products tied to the film.
Mattel is producing dolls, action figures, accessories and playsets and currently is taking pre-orders for a three-pack of dolls featuring Rumi, Mira and Zoey, the members of the fictional KPop trio HUNTR/X. Merchandise and toys from both companies will be available at retail in spring 2026.
Correction: Mattel reported net income of $278 million. A previous version of this article misstated the figure.
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