GM Is the Old Industrial Worth Owning for Some ESG Investors

It’s been years since General Motors Co. was the world’s largest automaker. But it may have a new size and scope: Environmentalists’ favorite.

“GM has found a new life as an ESG play,” Christopher Marangi, Gamco’s value co-chief investment officer, said Tuesday on Bloomberg TV’s Surveillance. “We do have a sustainability fund that owns it in part because of their commitment to electrification. Mary Barra has been pretty vocal about that obviously, and it looks like it’s for real,” he said, referring to GM’s head.

The automaker’s shares have returned almost 30% this year, about double the S&P 500 ...