General Motors reported strong third quarter earnings fueled by a 24 percent jump in U.S. vehicle sales, stoking optimism that the industry is rebounding from pandemic-related supply chain issues. Shares of GM surged 4.8 percent in intraday trading.

"While the operating environment remains challenging, our team continues to adjust quickly when and where it needs to. This is especially true of our supply chain and manufacturing teams," GM CEO Mary Barra said on a call with investors. "During the quarter, we completed and shipped nearly 75 percent of the unfinished vehicles we held in the company inventory in June." 

The automaker reported earnings per share of $2.25, excluding one-time items, beating analyst estimates of $1.88. Revenue of $41.89 billion, fell just short of the $42.1 billion analysts were expecting. In spite of the narrow topline loss, Wedbush analysts still extolled the results against "this brutal supply chain backdrop and with a softer consumer environment," they wrote in a note.

GM executives further noted that consumer demand for cars hasn't declined in spite of a challenging macroeconomic environment, and doubled down on full-year guidance of between $9.6 billion and $11.2 billion on net income and $13 billion to $15 billion for pretax income, according to the Associated Press. Still, it isn't clear how gas prices, interest rates and inflation may impact the auto industry moving forward.

"We're delivering on our commitments and affirming our full-year guidance despite a challenging environment because demand continues to be strong for GM products and we are actively managing the headwinds we face," Barra said in a letter to shareholders. 

Another bright spot in the company's report is that GM earned more than 8 percent of the U.S. electric vehicle market. Barra attributed the increase to record sales of the company's Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV. The company has plans to ramp up production of Bolt vehicles to 70,000 units in 2023  from 44,000 in 2022, and intends to have 30 electric vehicles on the market by 2025. 

Barra called the forthcoming Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Silverado, and Blazer EVs "cornerstones of our strategy to rapidly grow EV volumes."

"Guidance for the year was reiterated and ultimately speaks to the drumroll into 2023 that will be a pivotal year for the Detroit stalwart on its EV strategic vision," Wedbush analysts wrote in a note.