Analyst Sees High Bar For General Motors' Stock

General Motors Company GM is benefiting from pent-up demand, cheap gas, low interest rates, high trade-in values and constrained pickup truck production from Ford Motor Company F, an analyst said Thursday.

But "several of these factors will become less favorable in the future," according to Deutsche Bank's Rod Lache, who maintained a Neutral rating on the auto maker, citing what he called "intermediate-range concerns."

GM, up more than 7 percent year-to-date, changed hands recently at $37.32, down $0.06.

Lache maintained a $38 price target and said Wall Street has set a high bar for further price appreciation of GM shares.

"The company acknowledges that unusually favorable conditions" have been helping results, Lache said.

A significant gain for GM's stock price would require investors to become "more convinced that the company's earnings performance is sustainable," Lache said.

GM's management is likely to offer a "relatively upbeat" presentation to investors from GM managers at an automobile show in New York according to Lache.

A favorable product mix and pricing in North America as well as somewhat better-than-expected performance in its Asia business may result in GM beating the Wall Street consensus this year, Lache said.