By Al Root
Car companies don't want to be just car companies these days.
Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that General Motors and Lockheed Martin were collaborating in weapons manufacturing.
It's like a new Arsenal of Democracy. (In the 1940s, car manufacturers used their capacity to support America in World War II.) GM will use its supply chain and manufacturing might to help boost production of defense products.
GM shares were up 0.7% in premarket trading at $84.64, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up about 0.1%. Lockheed shares were down 0.1% at $529.90.
The potential agreement comes after both Ford Motor and General Motors announced initiatives to essentially use excess EV battery capacity for utility-scale energy storage applications to serve the growing market for AI data centers.
New businesses could add a little growth to what has become a relatively stable, but slow-growing car business. GM's operating profit has fluctuated between about $10 billion and $15 billion over the past five years, weathering Covid, weakening new-vehicle affordability, tariffs, and shifting EV policies. Wall Street expects 2026 operating profit of $14.6 billion.
Stable is great, but it doesn't get a big valuation multiple. GM stock trades for about 6.3 times earnings expected over the coming 12 months. That is typical for GM. The S&P trades for closer to 21 times.
Coming into Tuesday trading, GM stock was up about 3% this year and up about 71% over the past 12 months.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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June 16, 2026 08:46 ET (12:46 GMT)
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