General Motors (GM) – Get Report shares rose Tuesday, after UBS analyst Patrick Hummel lifted his share-price target for the country’s biggest automaker to $50 from $34 and affirmed his buy rating.
GM is “fully back on track and likely enjoys strong momentum well into 2021,” he wrote in a commentary, citing its electric-vehicle plans, CNBC reports.
GM recently traded at $40.96, up 5.1%. It has climbed 12% so far this year.
“With a focus on crystallizing value of its EV strategy, … GM will likely get more credit for being a relative winner in the transition,” Hummel said.
Investors will come to view GM as more of an “aggressive” electric-vehicle company during the next one to two years, he said.
That would distinguish GM from the rest of the Big Three U.S. automakers, Ford Motor (F) – Get Report and Chrysler (FCAU) – Get Report, which are slow-growth manufacturers, he said.
Also Tuesday, Walmart (WMT) – Get Report unveiled a pilot delivery program with Cruise, GM’s majority-owned self-driving vehicle company.
“We’re cruising over to Scottsdale, Arizona, to rev up a new pilot with self-driving-car company Cruise,” the Bentonville, Ark., retailer said in a statement.
“What’s unique about Cruise is they’re the only self-driving-car company to operate an entire fleet of all-electric vehicles powered with 100% renewable energy, which supports our road to zero emissions by 2040.”
The pilot begins early next year and allows customers to “place an order from their local store and have it delivered, contact-free, via one of Cruise’s all-electric self-driving cars,” Walmart said.
“Technology that has the potential to not only save customers time and money but also is helpful to the planet is technology we want to learn more about.”
Walmart shares at last check traded up 1.7% at $145.93.
