LAD - Lithia Motors lags Q3 profit expectations touts e-commerce strength

Lithia Motors ( NYSE: LAD ) shares traded in a volatile manner during premarket trading on Wednesday after missing earnings expectations as gross profit per vehicle dipped from the prior year.

The Oregon-based auto dealer posted $11.08 in earnings per share for the third quarter, coming up $0.82 short of expectations, alongside $7.3B in revenue, narrowly missing consensus estimates. $6,139 in gross profit per unit reflected a $36 decrease from the third quarter of 2021 and about $250 lower than the second quarter of 2022. Additionally, adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was 59.6%, up from 58% in Q2.

More positively, Lithia’s ( LAD ) e-commerce platform Driveway grew sharply. The platform averaged over 2M monthly unique visitors in Q3 and online transactions increased by 327% from the prior year.

"We posted strong results across our business lines this quarter, while navigating the current environment, integrating a  steady stream of acquisitions and continuing to grow Driveway and Driveway Finance,” CEO Bryan DeBoer said. "With our size and scale, we are well positioned with financial flexibility and liquidity to continue delivering growth with strong returns as we progress toward achieving our 2025 plan."

Elsewhere, the company's board approved a dividend of $0.42 per share to be paid on November 18 and highlighted the repurchase of 2.3M shares at a weighted average price of approximately $281 during the quarter. The number of outstanding shares was reduced by 10%, according to the company.

Dig into the details of the quarter .

For further details see: