In the grand scheme of things, it’s not difficult to understand why General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) will no longer be publishing its monthly sales figures as they’re collected. Sharing them leaves General Motors stock subject to short-term swings in traders’ mindsets, which detracts from the reality that investors really should be thinking in terms of years rather than in terms of months… or really, just weeks.

On the other hand, in an environment where “transparency” is expected and has been offered in the past, GM is likely to find its investors becoming frustrated when they realize rival automakers like Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (NYSE:FCAU) are still offering monthly reports.

And that’s certainly not going to help the GM stock price remain as firm as it’s been in the past.

Bye-Bye Monthly Numbers

The company certainly left the monthly sales report game on a high note. Last month, General Motors sold 296,341 vehicles, up 15.7% year-over-year, versus the Edmunds expectation for only a 3.6% increase. Truck sales, which are more profitable than passenger cars, were up 19%, and crossover sales jumped 41% largely in response to the introduction of new models.

General Motors stock should savor the stellar sales report; it’s the last one they’ll be getting until July, when GM will start sharing quarterly-only sales results. Kurt McNeil, U.S. Vice President of Sales Operations explains:

“Thirty days is not enough time to separate real sales trends from short-term fluctuations in a very dynamic, highly competitive market. Reporting sales quarterly better aligns with our business, and the quality of information will make it easier to see how the business is performing.”

The buzz is, Ford Motor Company is now mulling doing the same thing. Doing so would certainly be easier now that General Motors has flipped the switch to quarterly from monthly. The rationale is essentially the same… issuing monthly results sends the wrong message out to investors.

Thing is, there’s no actual empirical proof that sharing quarterly numbers will make General Motors stock any less volatile. It may simply unleash three months of volatility after every quarterly report than dish out gradually, one month at a time. Ironically, it’s a move that could me GM stock even more difficult for long-term investors to own.

Doubts About the Net Benefit

That’s more or less the way Keith Crain, Editor-in-Chief of industry news venue/site Automotive News, see it. He recently penned:

“I can’t help but think that reporting sales monthly is a financial responsibility for a public company. Indeed, it will be interesting to see whether GM’s major shareholders, Wall Street and the Securities and Exchange Commission will feel that monthly sales figures are an important bellwether of financial strength.”

Another unattributed op-ed at Automotive News lamented “…if the company doesn’t believe outsiders can grasp the nuances of its business, it should do a better job of explaining. As it now stands, GM will increase the influence of analysts’ extrapolation and inflate the importance of the anecdotal.”

Michelle Krebs, automotive analyst for AutoTrader, goes on to say “I think they might get a little bit of backlash from some who say they are not being transparent enough.”

Or, maybe the backlash will amount to more than “a little.” While the monthly numbers may have created short-term waves, they weren’t always bad. And, in the end, the GM stock price always eventually reflects the company’s long-term results.

Bottom Line for General Motors Stock

Simply put, the decision doesn’t make General Motors stock any easier for long-term investors to own. It makes it more difficult to own, for anyone.

There’s certainly plenty of sympathy for inherent challenges of the practice. Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) spokesperson Sage Marie noted “The monthly reporting process can be frustrating when the news media reports simple ups and downs and declares winners and losers without analysis of the levers being pulled to drive those results.”

It’s not entirely accurate to say there’s no analysis being done of the numbers though. Like all news, the initial results are offered in a “just the facts” manner. Also like all financial news though, it doesn’t take long for the pros to put the results in perspective.

If we’re being honest, this is ultimately a maneuver to obscure bad news, even if it means good news is also obscured in the process. And that ultimately works against GM stock, as investors tend to steer clear of the unknown.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.