General Motors Co. is seeing signs of an easing in the semiconductor shortage that curbed vehicle output and dented its market share last year, but cautioned profit for 2022 may be little changed.

The automaker on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and forecast 2022 sales and profit within the range projected by Wall Street. Sales declined to US$33.6 billion, missing the average Wall Street estimate of US$34.5 billion.

“With an improving outlook for semiconductors in the U.S. and China, we expect our 2022 results will remain strong,” Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.

Most automakers have cut production as they scramble to secure microchips. GM was hit among the hardest in the fourth quarter, when a 43 per cent drop in domestic sales forced the company to relinquish its crown as top U.S. automaker for the first time since 1931. GM has vowed to regain lost market share as supply-chain problems ease.  

Barra told reporters on a call that GM expects to benefit from pent-up demand on the order of several million vehicles in the U.S. alone, something she said will likely keep retail prices elevated.

Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the automaker expects a 25 per cent volume increase in the first quarter and gains of as much as 30 per cent for the year.

Shares of the carmaker rose as much as 3.1 per cent, after recovering from a drop immediately after its earnings announcement. The stock is down 7.8 per cent this year.

While the company expects improvement in chip availability this year, that won’t be reflected in the bottom line as GM shifts toward manufacturing more lower-margin vehicles and faces rising input costs for materials, Jacobson told reporters.

COMMODITY PRESSURE

The Detroit-based automaker is “seeing sizable supply chain pressure on commodities,” Jacobson said.

Looking ahead GM sees 2022 earnings roughly in line with the year just ended. The company forecasts adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of US$13 billion to US$15 billion in 2022 and adjusted earnings per share of US$6.25 to US$7.25. That compares US$14.3 billion in adjusted earnings last year and US$7.07 a share. 

GM has no plans to reinstate a dividend that it suspended almost two years ago, Barra said on a call with analysts.

Scarce semiconductor supplies have forced GM to sideline output of many budget models to prioritize production of its most lucrative vehicles. That allowed the automaker to report adjusted fourth-quarter profit of US$1.35 a share, above the US$1.20 a share average of analysts’ estimates but down from US$1.93 a year ago. 

GM’s adjusted fourth-quarter earnings before interest and taxes fell to US$2.84 billion from US$3.71 billion a year earlier. 

In North America, the automaker reported full-year profit of US$10.3 billion, up from US$9.07 billion in 2020. GM earned US$2.17 billion in North America in the fourth quarter, down 17 per cent.

NORTH AMERICA

The company made headway globally, with international operations earning US$275 million in the fourth quarter and US$827 million for the year -- after losing US$528 million in 2020. GM’s China profit doubled to US$1.1 billion in 2021.

GM Financial, the lending arm, also put up big numbers. The unit made US$5 billion in earnings before taxes for the year, a jump from US$2.7 billion in 2020.