Sonic Automotive Gains 5% In Pre-market On Upbeat Q4 Results

(RTTNews) - Shares of automotive retailer, Sonic Automotive, Inc. (SAH) are climbing more than 5% in pre-market on Wednesday after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Net income in the fourth quarter increased to $96.3 million, or $2.25 per share from $57.5 million, or $1.31 per share, in last year's fourth quarter.

Excluding items, earnings were $113.7 million or $2.66 per share, that beat the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters at $1.85 per share.

Revenue for the quarter rose 13.8% to $3.185 billion from $2.799 billion last year. The consensus estimate stood at $3.11 billion.

Further, the company's Board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, up 108%, payable on April 14, to stockholders of record on March 15.

Sonic shares closed at $50.49, up $2.27 or 4.71% on Tuesday. It is currently trading at $53.26 in pre-market.