$AutoNation (AN.US)$ stock is trading higher by 10.52%, at $177.44 per share on last check Friday. The movement comes on the heels of a reported first-quarter 2024 sales growth of 1% year-on-year to $6.48 billion. That slightly misses the analyst consensus estimate of $6.49 billion.
Continued growth in after-sales and increased New Vehicle revenue more than offset lower Used Vehicle revenue. New vehicle retail unit sales increased 7%, and used vehicle retail unit sales declined grew 2%.
Segment income from Domestic fell 37% Y/Y, Import dropped 20%, and Premium Luxury dropped 24%.
Gross profit declined 7% Y/Y to $1.19 billion, and the gross profit margin contracted 160 basis points Y/Y to 18.5%. After-sales gross profit increased 9% to $556 million.
Operating margin for the quarter was 5.2%, and the operating income was $340.3 million, a 23.2% decrease Y/Y.
EPS of $4.49 beat the consensus estimate of $4.27.
Cash and equivalents totaled $60.3 million as of March 31, 2024. Year-to-date through April 24, 2024, AutoNation had repurchased 1.6 million shares for an aggregate purchase price of $250 million.
The Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $1 billion of common stock under its share repurchase program and has approximately $1.1 billion under the program.