NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of GM  (GM) - Get Report are down by 1.12% to $37.86 in early afternoon trading on Wednesday after the automotive maker announced plans to change its business model in Russia today, which includes closing down its St. Petersburg factory and winding down its Opel brand and the sale of mainstream Chevrolet cars.

GM said the Opel brand will leave the market by the end of this year.

Following several years of growth above 10%, car sales in Russia slumped in 2014 due to the weakening economy resulting from sanctions from the West over the Ukraine crisis and a decline in oil prices, Reuters reports.

"This change in our business model in Russia is part of our global strategy to ensure long-term sustainability in markets where we operate. This decision avoids significant investment into a market that has very challenging long-term prospects," GM president Dan Ammann said in a statement.

GM said it will record approximately $600 million in special charges primarily in the first quarter of 2015 as a result of the decision to change its Russian business model.

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

General Motors is a part of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Here's what Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager & Jack Mohr, Director of Research - Action Alerts PLUS had to say about the stock in a recent alert:

This morning, Morgan Stanley resumed its research coverage of General Motors with an "Underweight" rating and $28 price target.

The first thing we would like to note is that the Morgan Stanley analyst in question has little to no credibility, especially when it comes to his "short" ideas. He has held an Underweight rating on both Harman International (HAR) and Avis Budget Group (CAR) - Get Report since March 2013; since then, shares of Harman and Avis are up 210% and 150%, respectively. In fact, historical correlation suggests his negative stance could be interpreted as a positive for the long-term trajectory of the stock.

The Morgan Stanley analyst criticized GM's recent decision to return excess free cash flow to shareholders, yet given the company's $20 billion cash load we believe it would be value-destructive for GM not to put at least some of its overflowing cash reserves to use.

- Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr 'Morgan Stanley Resumes GM Coverage' Originally Published on 3/17/15 on Action Alerts PLUS.

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Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates GENERAL MOTORS CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate GENERAL MOTORS CO (GM) a BUY. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, good cash flow from operations, increase in stock price during the past year and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated."

You can view the full analysis from the report here: GM Ratings Report