The Michigan automaker upped its adjusted pretax profit projection to USD 12.5 billion to USD 14.5 billion, from its previous stated range of USD 12 billion to USD 14 billion for the year.
"Our consumer has been remarkably resilient in this period of higher interest rates," GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said.
Despite the company's struggles in China and with electric vehicles, strong vehicle pricing with gasoline-powered trucks pleased investors.
"There ... is the reality that the pricing is staying stronger for longer than anybody anticipated," said Tim Piechowski, portfolio manager at ACR Alpine Capital Research in St. Louis, which owns GM shares.
"The engine of the company is truck and SUV at this point," he added. "They're just generating substantial profit and free cash flow that will continue to fund the initiatives in EV. Full steam ahead."
The automaker reported that net income in the first quarter rose 24.4% over the year-ago period to USD 3 billion, on a 7.6% rise in revenue to USD 43 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share of USD 2.62 beat the average Wall Street target of USD 2.15, according to LSEG data. Revenue topped the Wall Street target of USD 41.9 billion in the March quarter.
While the company started 2024 strong, CEO Mary Barra still has two large challenges ahead: turning around GM's shrinking sales in China, and salvaging Cruise, its robotaxi unit.
Cruise halted operations late last year after one of its self-driving cars dragged a woman down a San Francisco street. Company officials shared earlier this year that GM would cut spending on this unit by USD 1 billion. The robotaxi business lost USD 2.7 billion last year, not including USD 500 million in restructuring costs incurred in the fourth quarter as the unit cut staff. GM spent USD 400 million on Cruise in the first quarter.
Barra said the business is making progress, citing the return of its vehicles to roads in Phoenix, Arizona, earlier this month, with human drivers and no passengers.
GM's business in China - previously the automaker's largest market - has also been faltering. Chinese automakers and Tesla have gobbled up market share in the region, aided by deep price cuts and refreshed technology offerings.
GM lost USD 106 million in China in the quarter, which CFO Jacobson told reporters was less than his team expected, as it worked through inventory.
The carmaker and its crosstown rival Ford Motor are counting on profit from gas-engine trucks to ease investors' concerns as they continue to funnel cash into costly EV development. GM said it gained more than 3 points of market share in full-size pickup trucks in the quarter from rivals, which includes Ford and Stellantis.
GM has not broken out financial results for its EV business, but Jacobson stuck to previous forecasts for turning a profit. He still expects so-called variable profit, which excludes fixed costs, to be positive by the second half of 2024. Barra told investors in an earnings release: "We also continue to see sequential and year-over-year improvements in profitability as we benefit from scale, material cost and mix improvements."
The company's joint venture with LG Energy Solution , called Ultium Cells, is ramping up production of battery cells at plants in Ohio and Tennessee, Barra said.
Questions about the market for battery-powered vehicles have increased as EV leader Tesla laid off more than 10% of its global staff earlier this month and slashed prices on its models across several markets.
Tesla will release quarterly earnings on Tuesday, and the EV maker is expected to post its first revenue drop and lowest gross margin in nearly four years, according to LSEG data.
GM outlined last year a USD 10 billion stock buyback on the heels of reaching a costly new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union. The first tranche of this was completed in the first quarter, the company said.
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