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Zacks Earnings Trends Highlights: General Motors, Ford, Tesla
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – October 30, 2025 – Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian says, "Net income margins for this group of 222 index members of 12.27% is roughly even with the preceding quarter’s level (12.24%), but above the year-earlier level for these companies (11.97%)."
Positive Picture Emerging from Q3 Earnings Season
Note: The following is an excerpt from this week’s Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>>
Here are the key points:
For the 222 S&P 500 members that have reported Q3 results, total earnings are up +10.7% from the same period last year on +8% higher revenues, with 83.8% beating EPS estimates and 77.9% beating revenue estimates. The proportion of these 222 index members beating both EPS and revenue estimates is 68.5%.
The Q3 earnings and revenue growth pace for these 222 index members represents an acceleration relative to what we have seen from this same group of companies in recent quarters. The proportion of these 222 index members beating EPS and revenue estimates is tracking significantly above the historical averages for this same group of companies.
Net income margins for this group of 222 index members of 12.27% is roughly even with the preceding quarter’s level (12.24%), but above the year-earlier level for these companies (11.97%); the 20-quarter average for this group is 12.49%.
Unlike other recent quarters, the revisions trend has been positive for Q3, with estimates modestly going up in the July-to-September period. Given this revisions background, the above-average Q3 beats percentages can be interpreted to reflect improving momentum.
Automakers Outperform Despite Tariff Overhang
We at Zacks are somewhat of outliers when it comes to industry and sector classifications. A case in point is the 16 sectors we divide the business world into, compared to the 11 sectors in the S&P Global Industry Classification System. We have a standalone sector for the automobile space, unlike the Consumer Discretionary and Industrial sectors, where automakers and other value-chain operators are conventionally classified.
Other stand-alone Zacks sectors include Retail, Construction, Conglomerates, Aerospace/Defense, Transportation, and Business Services. We believe that the stand-alone Zacks sectors for these businesses allow for a granular understanding of the issues specific to each, enabling users of our data to identify trend shifts more easily.
Getting back to the Zacks Auto sector, where General Motors (GM - Free Report) , Ford (F - Free Report) , Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and other operators in the space are placed. We know that the market reacted positively to Q3 results from these three companies, more so for Ford and GM than for Tesla, but the overall market reaction has been positive.
For the Zacks Auto sector, we now have Q3 results from 57.1% of the sector players in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings for these auto sector players are down -23.9% from the same period last year on +4.2% higher revenues, with 50% beating EPS estimates and 100% beating revenue estimates.
The earnings declines are across the board, with Ford’s Q3 earnings down -7%, GM’s down -19.3% and Tesla’s down -39.5%. To give you a sense of the group’s margin trends, revenues were up +9.6% at Ford, flat at GM (actually down -0.3%), and up +11.6% at Tesla.
These numbers don’t appear to justify the market’s reaction to the Q3 results. But we have to be mindful that a stock’s reaction to quarterly results is primarily a function of what was feared and expected, rather than the absolute numbers.
It is no exaggeration to say that Tesla has unique, company-specific stock market drivers that aren’t applicable to others in the space. For Ford and GM, these results may not be pretty, but they were better than expected. Importantly, guidance for the current period was better than feared, with tariffs proving to be a smaller headwind than initially feared.
The Earnings Big Picture
For 2025 Q3, the expectation is for earnings growth of +7.3% on +7.3% revenue gains. We have consistently shown in this space how Q3 estimates have steadily increased since the quarter began.
The revisions trend at this stage in the Q3 reporting cycle is stable, with estimates for Q4 essentially unchanged since the quarter got underway. The typical behavior at this stage would have been for Q4 estimates to decline, which is what we have observed in the post-COVID period. At this stage in the preceding quarter, however, estimates had already started to rise.
We will see what trend takes shape in the days ahead as we get more Q3 results, which will allow analysts to adjust their estimates for Q4 and beyond. All in all, we are in a good place with the picture emerging from the Q3 reporting cycle.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Earnings Trends Highlights: General Motors, Ford, Tesla
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – October 30, 2025 – Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian says, "Net income margins for this group of 222 index members of 12.27% is roughly even with the preceding quarter’s level (12.24%), but above the year-earlier level for these companies (11.97%)."
Positive Picture Emerging from Q3 Earnings Season
Note: The following is an excerpt from this week’s Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>>
Here are the key points:
Automakers Outperform Despite Tariff Overhang
We at Zacks are somewhat of outliers when it comes to industry and sector classifications. A case in point is the 16 sectors we divide the business world into, compared to the 11 sectors in the S&P Global Industry Classification System. We have a standalone sector for the automobile space, unlike the Consumer Discretionary and Industrial sectors, where automakers and other value-chain operators are conventionally classified.
Other stand-alone Zacks sectors include Retail, Construction, Conglomerates, Aerospace/Defense, Transportation, and Business Services. We believe that the stand-alone Zacks sectors for these businesses allow for a granular understanding of the issues specific to each, enabling users of our data to identify trend shifts more easily.
Getting back to the Zacks Auto sector, where General Motors (GM - Free Report) , Ford (F - Free Report) , Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and other operators in the space are placed. We know that the market reacted positively to Q3 results from these three companies, more so for Ford and GM than for Tesla, but the overall market reaction has been positive.
For the Zacks Auto sector, we now have Q3 results from 57.1% of the sector players in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings for these auto sector players are down -23.9% from the same period last year on +4.2% higher revenues, with 50% beating EPS estimates and 100% beating revenue estimates.
The earnings declines are across the board, with Ford’s Q3 earnings down -7%, GM’s down -19.3% and Tesla’s down -39.5%. To give you a sense of the group’s margin trends, revenues were up +9.6% at Ford, flat at GM (actually down -0.3%), and up +11.6% at Tesla.
These numbers don’t appear to justify the market’s reaction to the Q3 results. But we have to be mindful that a stock’s reaction to quarterly results is primarily a function of what was feared and expected, rather than the absolute numbers.
It is no exaggeration to say that Tesla has unique, company-specific stock market drivers that aren’t applicable to others in the space. For Ford and GM, these results may not be pretty, but they were better than expected. Importantly, guidance for the current period was better than feared, with tariffs proving to be a smaller headwind than initially feared.
The Earnings Big Picture
For 2025 Q3, the expectation is for earnings growth of +7.3% on +7.3% revenue gains. We have consistently shown in this space how Q3 estimates have steadily increased since the quarter began.
The revisions trend at this stage in the Q3 reporting cycle is stable, with estimates for Q4 essentially unchanged since the quarter got underway. The typical behavior at this stage would have been for Q4 estimates to decline, which is what we have observed in the post-COVID period. At this stage in the preceding quarter, however, estimates had already started to rise.
We will see what trend takes shape in the days ahead as we get more Q3 results, which will allow analysts to adjust their estimates for Q4 and beyond. All in all, we are in a good place with the picture emerging from the Q3 reporting cycle.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.