AutoNation Reports Q2 Earnings Miss: 'An Otherwise Strong Quarter For AutoNation Was Masked By The CDK Outage'

AutoNation, Inc. AN reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $3.99, missing the analyst consensus of $4.34.

Quarterly sales of $6.48 billion missed the analyst consensus of $6.72 billion.

The quarterly performance was adversely impacted by the outage of AutoNation’s dealer management system due to a cyber incident experienced by CDK Global, which reduced earnings per share by an estimated $1.55, including $0.79 of one-time costs.

“An otherwise strong quarter for AutoNation was masked by the CDK outage,” said Mike Manley, AutoNation’s Chief Executive Officer.

AutoNation reported a decline in revenue across several segments: New Vehicle Revenue fell by $159 million (5%) to $3.1 billion, Used Vehicle Revenue decreased by $177 million (8%) to $1.9 billion, After-Sales Revenue was down by $28 million (2%) to $1.1 billion, and Customer Financial Services Revenue dropped by $46 million (12%) to $324 million.

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AutoNation’s earnings highlights include a 60-basis-point improvement in After-Sales gross profit margin, reaching 48.0%, and recent gains in vehicle unit profitability.

The company demonstrated strong free cash flow conversion and continued its focus on capital allocation, with $350 million in share repurchases year-to-date.

As of June-end, AutoNation had $1.6 billion of liquidity, including $86 million in cash and $1.5 billion of availability under its revolving credit facility.

“Margin performance in After-Sales and trends in vehicle margins were encouraging and our cash generation continues to support capital deployment focused on shareholder returns, including the repurchase of more than 5% of our shares outstanding year to date,” Manley added. 

Price Action: AN shares are trading higher by 6.78% to $191.57 at last check Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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