A token dividend from a cash-generating automaker, with a 2020 suspension on the record. GM's common dividend is 5% of adjusted automotive free cash flow in 2025, and the automotive business holds $7.3 billion of net cash. The dividend was suspended in 2020, reinstated in 2022, and raised every year since. At 0.87% the yield is under the 1% line, so the card is graded warn: covered, but not income at this price.
Key risk: Auto cycles, warranty and EV spending: adjusted automotive free cash flow fell by a quarter in 2025, and the dividend is small enough to survive that, but not a deeper downturn.
Changes if: Adjusted automotive free cash flow turns negative for a full year, or the $0.18 rate is cut.
- ✓Earnings payout 5.1% of FY2025 adjusted automotive free cash flow, pass (<60%), on the sector-appropriate base.
- ✓Leverage Automotive net cash $7,316m at Sept 30, 2026, pass.
- !Dividend history Dividend suspended in 2020, reinstated in 2022 at $0.09 and raised every year since to $0.18. The suspension is more than five years ago; it is disclosed, not hidden.
- !Yield Yield 0.87%, under the 1% line: a growth holding, not income.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.