Sonic Automotive Q4 Adj. Profit Beats View, But Revenues Miss - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Automotive retailer Sonic Automotive Inc. (SAH) reported that its fourth-quarter net income was $28.08 million or $0.53 per share, down from $30.38 million or $0.55 per share in the prior-year period.

Adjusted earnings from continuing operations for the quarter was $0.67 per share, compared to $0.52 per share in the prior-year quarter. On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.59 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenue for the quarter increased 6 percent to $2.32 billion from $2.19 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.37 billion.

New vehicle retail revenue for the quarter rose 3.1 percent over the prior-year period, while used vehicle retail revenue increased 12.7 percent.

Scott Smith, President of Sonic Automotive said, "We expect the automotive retailing sector to continue to grow in 2014 and are anticipating 2014 new vehicle industry volume of between 15.75 million units and 16.25 million units. We will have additional comments on our 2014 outlook in our earnings call later today."

The company also said its board of directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share, payable in cash to stockholders of record on March 14, 2014. The dividend will be payable on April 15, 2014.