GM hopes to dramatically increase production of electric vehicle (EV) pickups
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is down 0.8% to trade at $52.22 at last check, despite the automaker announcing plans to invest $7 billion in Michigan, most of which will be used to increase production of electric vehicle (EV) pickups. This move will ramp up competition with Ford Motor (F), though those eyeing the EV sector will still also be keeping tabs on Tesla's (TSLA) plan to to sell over 1 million electric vehicles in 2022.
Digging deeper, General Motors stock has pulled back dramatically from its Jan. 5, all-time high of $67.21, and is now pacing for its seventh-straight daily loss. The security is also trading at its lowest level since September, and has lost long-time support from its 320-day moving average. Over the last nine months, GM has shed 11.4%.
The brokerage bunch remains bullish towards the equity, however, with eight of the 10 analysts in question carrying a "buy" or better rating, while two say "hold." What's more, the 12-month consensus price target of $77.02 is a 47.3% premium to the security's current levels.
Meanwhile, options traders have been more bearish than usual. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), GM's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.30 sits higher than 89% of readings from the past year. This means that while calls are still outnumbering puts on an overall basis, puts are getting picked up at faster-than-usual clip.