What Is The Best Case For General Motors Stock?

GMYTD+9.4%SPYYTD+11.2%XLYYTD-1.3%
Analyze GM →

For questions about this article or underlying research, email help@trefis.com.

If you are looking for what could lift General Motors (GM) stock, more pickups are unlikely to provide the answer in 2027. Management expects to build roughly the same number of trucks in 2027 as in 2026, and revenue over the twelve months to September 2026 was about the same as a year earlier. Yet a much smaller part of GM is growing: the business that sells drivers subscriptions after they buy the car. How much does that business bring in today?

Image from Pixabay

How Much GM Collects From OnStar And Super Cruise

On the October 20, 2026 call, management said GM’s OnStar Digital and Super Cruise services brought in recognized revenue of over $800 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 15% from a year earlier. OnStar sells subscriptions, and Super Cruise lets drivers take their hands off the wheel.

Deferred revenue is growing faster. This balance represents money GM has been paid for services it has not delivered yet, which turns into revenue as the service is provided. Management said deferred revenue from software and services was up 40% from a year earlier. It expects that balance to approach $7.5 billion by the end of 2026, driven by one million new OnStar subscriptions and about one million cars on the road equipped with Super Cruise. So more of GM’s software income is waiting to be counted than a year ago.

How Big Could GM’s Software Business Get?

Even with that growth, the software business is small next to GM’s vehicle sales. It brought in about 1.6% of the company’s revenue in the third quarter of 2026.

Management is aiming for more than $3 billion of software and services revenue in 2026, and it expects double-digit growth again in 2027. Both are forecasts, not results. For 2027, management also expects the share of its full-size trucks sold with Super Cruise to grow four to five times, and it aims to grow the number of Super Cruise cars on the road by close to 50%. Even at those rates, software would remain a small part of GM’s revenue in 2027.

GM stock returned 29.0% in the year to November 3, 2026, against 11.9% for the S&P 500. On November 3, the stock closed 2.0% below its highest close of the past 365 days. With software this small, the price appears to assume that GM’s vehicle business holds up as well.

Can GM Grow Profit Despite Higher Costs?

Management believes it can, but only if commodity costs ease. On the October 20 call, management said it could grow revenue, margins and adjusted profit before interest and taxes in 2027, assuming the tariff environment stays broadly similar and recent commodity pressures moderate. If recent commodity inflation were simply annualized, management estimated a total headwind of roughly $2 billion to that profit in 2027.

Analysts pressed management on those costs during the call. Management answered that it was still working through its budget and would need commodity prices to come off current levels a little bit to have the confidence to grow. It named OnStar, Super Cruise and GM Defense among the drivers of its 2027 opportunity, alongside launching the new trucks and adding capacity in full-size SUVs and crossovers. For the trucks, that driver is capturing a rich mix in their first year, not selling more of them.

GM is expected to report in January 2027, and its software and services revenue for 2026 is the number to watch.

Sitting On A Big Gain In General Motors?

After a run like this, the hard questions are personal: hold, trim or sell, and the tax on each. Our partner advisory firm offers a free strategy review of ways to keep part of the upside, protect the rest and spread the tax over years.

Request A Free Strategy Review

Spot an error or want more like this? Tell us in 10 seconds.