Back up the Corvette and shovel General Motors stock into the trunk, one top Wall Street auto analyst says in a new note to clients on Friday.

Citi’s Itay Michaeli came out with an $87 price target on General Motors. If you run the math, Michaeli is looking for about 187% upside in GM shares. By comparison, Michaeli — who has an under-perform rating on Tesla — expects shares of Elon Musk’s creation to tank 52%.

GM shares rose 2% on Friday.

Michaeli points to several catalysts for GM’s stock headed into 2023 following a meeting with the company’s executive team. They include:

  1. Strong auto demand continuing.

  2. September unveiling of an EV Equinox crossover.

  3. September investor event for GM’s autonomous driving unit Cruise.

  4. Production ramp for GM’s Ultium batteries, which should help bring down EV production costs.

  5. November investor day in New York City.

  6. Declining commodities costs.

“We were encouraged by management’s tone at our meeting,” Michaeli added.

A badge of Cadillac, an automobile brand owned by General Motors Company, is seen on the grill of a vehicle for sale at a car dealership in Queens, New York, U.S., November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

A badge of Cadillac, an automobile brand owned by General Motors Company, is seen on the grill of a vehicle for sale at a car dealership in Queens, New York, U.S., November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The automaker also reinstated its dividend to 9 cents a share — it had been halted since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 — and lifted its share buyback plan to $5 billion from $3.3 billion.

“GM is investing more than $35 billion through 2025 to advance our growth plan, including rapidly expanding our electric vehicle portfolio and creating a domestic battery manufacturing infrastructure,” said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement. “Progress on these key strategic initiatives has improved our visibility and strengthened confidence in our capacity to fund growth while also returning capital to shareholders.”

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Source: finance.yahoo.com