In late October, General Motors (NYSE: GM) stock crashed, even as the auto giant posted a big earnings beat for the third quarter. Investors and analysts appeared to be disappointed with the General's full-year outlook, which implied a significant sequential decline in its profitability in the fourth quarter.
However, anyone who has followed GM closely in recent years knows that the automaker has a habit of issuing conservative forecasts and then beating them. Sure enough, General Motors raised its full-year guidance earlier this week.
Like its peers in the auto industry, GM has been forced to slash production during 2021 despite strong demand, due to widespread semiconductor shortages. Lower production typically hurts profitability, due to factors like weaker factory utilization and reduced labor productivity.
Source Fool.com