Thursday, January 29, 2026

GM’s earnings rally wasn’t just about quarterly results. It was about trust in Mary Barra

Just how impressed is the market with Mary Barra? After GM’s earnings on Tuesday, its stock jumped more than 8%, adding $7 billion to its market cap. That was due to the 2025 financial results GM reported—beating expectations despite a quarterly loss. But there is also a prevailing confidence in Barra’s ability, at this point, to navigate anything that might come GM’s way.

As GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson said on Tuesday: “In the face of a rapidly evolving industry and significant macro challenges, the resilience and adaptability of the GM team have been truly exceptional.” Investor notes this week cited GM’s “consistent management team and strategy” and “strong execution and proven resilience.”

The most important skill for any U.S. automaker has turned out to be the ability to manage volatility. From the 2025 tariff regime to general political uncertainty, the only sure thing is that nothing is certain. It was an “unimaginable year” of volatility, one management professor says. That’s the skill Barra has mastered, even compared to GM rivals like Ford. Take GM’s EV pullback; what seemed to many like a failure, with a more than $7 billion write-down, is now positioned as a win for GM, with its strategy better matching what consumers—and the administration—want in terms of EVs. GM has benefitted from some Trump policies, like the elimination of federal penalties for passenger cars that don’t meet fuel efficiency standards.

Barra is almost 12 years into her tenure as GM’s CEO and more than four decades into her career at the automaker. She was No. 1 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list last year. Every quarter, we seem to get a reminder of why she’s at the top.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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