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General American Investors Company, Inc.NYSE:GAM Stock Report

Market Cap US$1.5b
Share Price
US$62.85
US$128.6
51.1% undervalued intrinsic discount
1Y14.8%
7D-1.6%
1D
Portfolio Value
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General American Investors Company, Inc.

NYSE:GAM Stock Report

Market Cap: US$1.5b

General American Investors Company (GAM) Stock Overview

A publicly owned investment manager. More details

GAM fundamental analysis
Snowflake Score
Valuation4/6
Future Growth0/6
Past Performance4/6
Financial Health5/6
Dividends4/6

Rewards

Trading at 51.1% below our estimate of its fair value

Earnings grew by 40.3% over the past year

Risk Analysis

Large one-off items impacting financial results

Unstable dividend track record


GAM Community Fair Values

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General American Investors Company, Inc. Competitors

Price History & Performance

Summary of share price highs, lows and changes for General American Investors Company
Historical stock prices
Current Share PriceUS$62.85
52 Week HighUS$66.18
52 Week LowUS$53.78
Beta0.82
1 Month Change-2.12%
3 Month Change6.65%
1 Year Change14.77%
3 Year Change51.74%
5 Year Change45.13%
Change since IPO53.29%

Recent News & Updates

Seeking Alpha • Apr 15

GAM: Great Portfolio, But You're Not Getting The Discount Back

Summary General American Investors offers disciplined, long-term equity compounding via a concentrated, internally managed portfolio of large-cap stocks. GAM consistently trades at a persistent 10-15% NAV discount due to its lack of a managed distribution policy and variable dividend history. The fund avoids income engineering, distributing only realized gains, which preserves NAV but results in unreliable yield for income-focused investors. GAM suits investors prioritizing long-term NAV growth over income, accepting the structural discount as an embedded margin of safety. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha

Recent updates

Seeking Alpha • Apr 15

GAM: Great Portfolio, But You're Not Getting The Discount Back

Summary General American Investors offers disciplined, long-term equity compounding via a concentrated, internally managed portfolio of large-cap stocks. GAM consistently trades at a persistent 10-15% NAV discount due to its lack of a managed distribution policy and variable dividend history. The fund avoids income engineering, distributing only realized gains, which preserves NAV but results in unreliable yield for income-focused investors. GAM suits investors prioritizing long-term NAV growth over income, accepting the structural discount as an embedded margin of safety. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Oct 08

GAM: Moving To Hold After The Run-Up (Rating Downgrade)

Summary General American Investors has outperformed the S&P 500 by over 25% since our last coverage, driven by a tightening discount to NAV and portfolio outperformance. GAM's portfolio mimics the S&P 500 but with only 70 stocks, focusing on NAV growth and a 5% distribution yield. The current market conditions and GAM's stretched valuation metrics prompt us to downgrade the fund from 'Buy' to 'Hold'. Despite strong recent performance, the high P/E ratio and stretched z-stat indicate a less attractive entry point for GAM. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Jun 02

GAM: Very Attractive 18% Discount, Variable Income, And Solid Past Performance

Summary General American Investors Co. Inc. is a closed-end fund that invests in a diversified pool of equities of mostly large-cap U.S. listed stocks. The GAM CEF uses nearly 12% leverage in the form of preferred shares, for which it pays 5.95% in distributions quarterly. GAM's past performance is solid, especially the long-term performance. In some ways, this fund is a proxy for the S&P 500 Index in terms of capital appreciation with the benefit of significant income, though variable from year to year. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Jan 18

GAM: A Robust Way To Extract Equity Dividends In A Low VIX Environment

Summary Most equity closed-end funds (CEFs) tracking the S&P 500 have underperformed due to options utilization in extracting dividends. General American Investors (GAM), an equity CEF that does not use covered calls, has been able to fully match the index in the past year. GAM's reliable and transparent performance, along with its low VIX level, make it an attractive alternative to other equity CEFs. The fund however only pays an annual dividend, and sports a low dividend yield of 6.2% (when compared to the equity CEF space). Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Nov 12

GAM Seems To Have Lost Its Mojo

Summary General American Investors (GAM) uses a concentrated investment strategy that dates back to 1927. There are at least 3 other CEFs with that length of history. For investors looking for a fund that consistently provides better results than the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY), GAM recently fails on that measure. While ahead of that index since 1988, GAM has trailed it over the last decade. GAM also trails other CEFs whose style is the same: article links are provided. If holding GAM at a loss, consider capturing that loss and investing in one of the better performing CEFs listed at the end of this article. This article was co-produced with Hoya Capital Real Estate Introduction Since I recently covered two other CEFs that predate the 1929 stock market crash, covering the General American Investors (GAM) CEF just made sense. Links to recent articles on three other long-dated CEFs can be found at the end of this article. Data will show how a star performer can lose its "mojo" and become just one of the pack. Based on 10-year results, GAM is now behind the others, with the Central Securities (CET) on top. My thought is sell GAM and invest in one of the others, especially as you can capture a tax loss. General American Investors Company review Data by YCharts Seeking Alpha describes this CEF as: General American Investors Company, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. To achieve long-term capital appreciation, with lesser emphasis placed on current income, GAM invests principally in common stocks believed by its management to have better than average growth potential. Normally, a substantially fully invested position in equities is maintained. Benchmark: S&P 500 TR USD. This CEF started in 1927. Source: seekingalpha.com GAM GAM has just over $1b in AUM, with the managers charging 124bps in fees. Like its fellow long-term CEFs, the yield varies widely and is heavily depended on the year-end payment, which most times is funded by LTCGs. Portfolio strategy overview The primary investment objective of the Company is long-term capital appreciation with lesser emphasis on current income. We focus on equity securities with growth potential at reasonable valuations. More specifically, we seek investments worldwide in leading public and private companies with significant long-term opportunities, defensible competitive advantages, prudent and profitable business models, and committed first-class management teams with the vision and energy to succeed. Source: generalamericaninvestors.com GAM has one portfolio manager and four security analysts, three with CFAs, supporting him. Some important points they list in executing their strategy include: General American Investors Company's portfolio is constructed using a "bottom up" approach. Our security analysts utilize numerous sources, including publications and reports, conferences and meetings, and industry trade group activities, to identify the securities of companies with strong long-term growth potential. When a recommendation is made, the portfolio manager reviews the rationale provided by the related analyst, often with the assistance and input from other members of the research staff. We believe that adequate diversification can be achieved with a limited number of holdings (50 to 70) in diverse industries. Individual security weightings depend upon our assessment of the company's potential for growth as well as the market liquidity of the security. Holdings review generalamericaninvestors.com sectors When one compares these sector weights against the benchmark, one sees that GAM invests independent of the benchmark weights. The Top 10 were the only holdings posted on the CEF's website. Company and description Weight Republic Services, Inc. Republic Services is a provider of non-hazardous, solid waste collection and disposal services in the U.S. The efficient operation of its routes and facilities combined with appropriate pricing enables Republic Services to generate significant free cash flow. 7.40% Microsoft Corporation Microsoft is a global provider of software, services, and hardware devices. The company produces the Windows operating system, Office productivity suite, Azure public cloud service, and Xbox gaming console. 5.70% Alphabet Inc. - Class C Alphabet is a global technology firm with a dominant market share in internet search, online advertising, desktop and mobile operating systems, as well as a growing share of cloud computing platforms. Alphabet has a wide competitive moat, a strong business franchise, and potential growth catalysts. 5.10% Apple Inc. Apple designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services. The company's growth prospects look favorable as the shift to mobile computing expands globally and as more products and services are added to the Apple ecosystem. 4.80% Berkshire Hathaway Inc. - Class A Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company owning many subsidiaries mainly in the insurance, railroad, utility/energy, aerospace, manufacturing, retail, and finance industries. The company also holds various common stock investments. Berkshire is positioned to provide long term, relatively defensive returns due to its conservative balance sheet. 4.60% Arch Capital Group Ltd. Arch Capital generates premiums of approximately $12 billion and has a high quality A+ rated balance sheet. The company's management team exercises prudent underwriting discipline, expense control, and capital management yielding above average shareholder returns. 4.40% Nestlé S.A. Nestlé is a global food company with a favorably-positioned product portfolio and a strong balance sheet. Market share, volume growth, pricing power, expense control, and capital management offer durable total return potential. 3.60% T-Mobile US, Inc. T-Mobile is one of the largest wireless communications providers in the United States offering voice, data, and fixed broadband internet connectivity. T-Mobile's customer value proposition, network quality, and operational discipline position the company to generate free cash flow and allocate it in an efficient manner. 3.60% The TJX Companies, Inc. Through its T.J. Maxx and Marshalls divisions, TJX is the leading off-price retailer. The continued growth of these divisions in the U.S. and Europe, along with expansion of related U.S. and foreign off-price formats, provide ongoing growth opportunities. 3.50% Everest Re Group, Ltd. Everest Re is one of the largest independent U.S. property and casualty reinsurers, generates annual premiums of approximately $13 billion, has a high quality investment portfolio, and a well-reserved A+ balance sheet. This Bermuda domiciled company has a strong management team that exercises prudent underwriting discipline and efficient expense control, resulting in above-average earnings and book value growth. 3.50% I did not recognize two names: Arch Capital Group (ACGL) and Everest Re Group (RE). The 3rd quarter report did list all holdings, which was about 60 stocks. The following table shows trades made over the prior quarter. generalamericaninvestors.com 3Q report Distribution review The Company's dividend and distribution policy is to distribute to stockholders before year-end substantially all ordinary income estimated for the full year and capital gains realized during the ten-month period ended October 31 of that year. If any additional capital gains are realized and available or ordinary income is earned during the last two months of the year, a "spill-over" distribution of these amounts may be paid.
Seeking Alpha • Dec 27

GAM: When Looking For A CEF With Over 50 Years Of Track Record

General American Investors is an equity focused closed end fund. GAM has outperformed the S&P 500 on a 50-year lookback period. The analytics for the fund as reflected in its Sharpe ratio, standard deviation and drawdowns are inferior to the index on a 10-year lookback period. With an above average expense ratio and layered leverage, we expect more from this fund.

Shareholder Returns

GAMUS Capital MarketsUS Market
7D-1.6%0.7%-4.1%
1Y14.8%7.6%20.6%

Return vs Industry: GAM exceeded the US Capital Markets industry which returned 7.6% over the past year.

Return vs Market: GAM underperformed the US Market which returned 20.6% over the past year.

Price Volatility

Is GAM's price volatile compared to industry and market?
GAM volatility
GAM Average Weekly Movement2.2%
Capital Markets Industry Average Movement3.6%
Market Average Movement7.2%
10% most volatile stocks in US Market16.6%
10% least volatile stocks in US Market3.1%

Stable Share Price: GAM has not had significant price volatility in the past 3 months compared to the US market.

Volatility Over Time: GAM's weekly volatility (2%) has been stable over the past year.

About the Company

FoundedEmployeesCEOWebsite
1927n/aJeffrey Priestwww.generalamericaninvestors.com

General American Investors Company, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm invests in the public equity markets of United States. It invests in growth stocks of companies.

General American Investors Company, Inc. Fundamentals Summary

How do General American Investors Company's earnings and revenue compare to its market cap?
GAM fundamental statistics
Market capUS$1.49b
Earnings (TTM)US$328.53m
Revenue (TTM)US$24.31m
4.6x
P/E Ratio
62.0x
P/S Ratio

Is GAM overvalued?

See Fair Value and valuation analysis

Earnings & Revenue

Key profitability statistics from the latest earnings report (TTM)
GAM income statement (TTM)
RevenueUS$24.31m
Cost of RevenueUS$0
Gross ProfitUS$24.31m
Other Expenses-US$304.23m
EarningsUS$328.53m

Last Reported Earnings

Dec 31, 2025

Next Earnings Date

n/a

Earnings per share (EPS)13.70
Gross Margin100.00%
Net Profit Margin1,351.62%
Debt/Equity Ratio0%

How did GAM perform over the long term?

See historical performance and comparison

Dividends

10.2%
Current Dividend Yield
47%
Payout Ratio

Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2026/06/11 21:55
End of Day Share Price 2026/06/11 00:00
Earnings2025/12/31
Annual Earnings2025/12/31

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.

Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.

Analyst Sources

General American Investors Company, Inc. is covered by 0 analysts. 0 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.