General Motors Embarks On Hiring Spree For EV Bonanza; Street Bullish

General Motors on Monday announced a plan to hire 3,000 engineering, design and IT employees, as the US automaker seeks to accelerate the production of electric vehicles (EVs).

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As GM (GM) intends to offer more remote opportunities than ever before through the development of electric vehicles and advanced platforms like the Ultium battery system, it is looking to hire electrical system engineers, as well as developers for Java, Android, iOS and other platforms. The company is expected to fill the posts from now through the first quarter of 2021.

The hiring spree comes as GM just announced an investment of over $20 billion for the development of electric and autonomous vehicles by 2025.

“As we evolve and grow our software expertise and services, it’s important that we continue to recruit and add diverse talent,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “This will clearly show that we’re committed to further developing the software we need to lead in EVs, enhance the customer experience and become a software expertise-driven workforce.”

GM added that recent virtual development innovations introduced by its engineering team have allowed the company to speed up the product timelines of upcoming EVs while keeping costs low. Last month, the company unveiled the much anticipated GMC Hummer EV supertruck, its first electric vehicle powered by the Ultium battery system.

GM has this year been accelerating the rollout of new energy vehicles (NEVs) across its brands in China, which the automaker earmarked as a pivotal market for its zero-emissions mission. NEV sales more than doubled in the first nine months from a year earlier.

GM said it has already exceeded its plan of introducing 10 NEVs between 2016 and 2020, including the Buick VELITE 7 all-electric SUV, VELITE 6 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV. In the next five years, Detroit-based automaker, plans for more than 40% of GM’s new launches in China to be NEVs.

Shares in GM have advanced 13% over the past 5 days and are now up 6.5% year-to-date, with the $44.23 average price target suggesting that analysts expect the stock to appreciate almost 14% in the coming months.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives recently reiterated a Hold rating on the stock, but noted that the GMC Hummer EV “could see relatively strong demand out of the gates given the initial specs and the massive market opportunity ahead on the EV front.”

“GM will offer 20 new EVs for sale by 2023, which is an impressive number of models and vehicles across various product lines. GM said it targets selling 1 million EVs a year between those two markets in five years,” Ives commented. “In a nutshell, given its massive distribution, installed base, and EV R&D/battery framework we believe GM has a strong opportunity to establish itself as a major player in the EV market over the next decade.”

From the rest of the Street, GM scores a Strong Buy consensus with 11 Buys, Ives’ Hold and 1 Sell. (See GM stock analysis on TipRanks).