“AutoNation Inc. (SAH), the largest U.S. retailer of new cars and trucks, reported quarterly profit that beat analysts’ estimates as the housing and energy industries helped boost demand for vehicles.
First-quarter net income rose to $83 million from $73 million a year earlier, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company said today in a statement. Profit from continuing operations climbed 21 percent to 68 cents a share, topping the 64-cent average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales increased 12 percent to $4.1 billion.
AutoNation benefited from stabilization and recovery in the housing market, particularly in states such as California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, Chief Executive Officer Mike Jackson said in a telephone interview. The retailer also is getting a boost from growth in the energy sector inTexas, as well as a broader U.S. auto market that Jackson forecasts will increase by about 1 million new-vehicle sales this year.
“Those three bright spots in the economy — energy, housing and automotive — all work for us,” Jackson said. “For the automotive recovery, we still think we’re in the early innings.”
AutoNation began to rename all of its mass-market brand franchises in the first quarter of this year after posting record profit for 2012. The dealership group’s non-luxury domestic and import franchises will use the AutoNation moniker.
The company has shifted about 30 percent of those franchises to names such as AutoNation Chevrolet of Pembroke Pines, a store between Miami and AutoNation’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. The franchise was previously Maroone Chevrolet of Pembroke Pines.
