LAD Q2 Earnings Beat on Used Vehicle & Aftersales Outperformance

Lithia Motors LAD reported second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $10.24, which improved from the prior-year quarter’s $7.87 and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.78. The auto retailer clocked revenues of $9.58 billion, which increased 3.7% year over year and also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.53 billion.

Segmental Performance

New vehicle retail revenues increased 2.2% year over year to $4.5 billion but lagged our estimate of $4.75 billion. New vehicle units sold rose 1.8% from the prior-year quarter’s levels to 94,144 units, missing our estimate of 100,205 units. The ASP of new vehicle retail increased to $47,782 from $47,603 reported in the prior-year quarter. Our estimate was $47,431. The gross margin in this segment contracted 60 basis points (bps) to 6.7% amid the high cost of sales, which rose 2.8% year over year to $4.2 billion.

Used vehicle retail revenues rose 3.6% year over year to $3.1 billion and surpassed our estimate of $2.9 billion, courtesy of higher-than-anticipated ASP. The used-vehicle retail units sold declined 0.2% from the year-ago quarter to 109,053 units and lagged our expectation of 111,328 units. The ASP of used vehicle retail was $28,379, up 3.8% year over year. Our estimate was $26,135. The gross margin in the segment increased 20 bps to 6.7%.

Revenues from used vehicle wholesale jumped 32.3% to $383 million and outpaced our estimate of $340 million. The company’s finance and insurance revenues rose 3.6% to $373.8 million but fell short of our estimate of $398.9 million. Revenues from aftersales were $1.02 billion, which rose 7.6% year over year and surpassed our estimate of $985 million. Revenues from fleet and others were $209.5 million, which contracted 13.1% year over year and lagged our expectation of $244 million.

Same-store new vehicle revenues increased 2% year over year, while same-store used vehicle retail sales rose 6.5%. Same-store revenues from finance and insurance rose 4.5%, while those of the aftersales unit rose 8.5%.

Lithia Motors, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Lithia Motors, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Lithia Motors, Inc. Quote

Financial Tidbits

Cost of sales were up 3.7% year over year in second-quarter 2025. SG&A expenses were $1.01 billion. Adjusted SG&A, as a percentage of gross profit, was 67.7%, decreasing from the prior-year quarter’s 67.9%. Pretax and net profit margins improved from the year-ago levels.

The company announced a dividend of 55 cents to be paid out on Aug. 22, 2025, to its shareholders of record as of Aug. 8, 2025. In second-quarter 2025, LAD repurchased nearly 387,000 shares at an average price of $306. Currently, Lithia has approximately $568.8 million shares remaining under its buyback authorization.

Lithia had cash/cash equivalents/restricted cash of $404.4 million as of June 30, 2025, up from $402.2 million as of Dec. 31, 2024. Long-term debt was $6.7 billion as of June 30, 2025, up from $6.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024.

LAD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Peer Releases

O'Reilly Automotive ORLY came out with quarterly earnings of 78 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 77 cents per share. This compares to earnings of 70 cents per share a year ago. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times and missed on the other two occasions. It posted revenues of $4.53 billion for the quarter ended June 2025, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.16%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $4.27 billion. ORLY topped consensus revenue estimates just once in the last four quarters.

Sonic Automotive SAH came out with quarterly earnings of $2.19 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.63 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.47 per share a year ago.Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times and missed on the other occasion. It posted revenues of $3.66 billion for the quarter ended June 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.44%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $3.45 billion. SAH topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

Group 1 Automotive GPI came out with quarterly earnings of $11.52 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.31 per share. This compares to earnings of $9.80 per share a year ago. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus estimates for EPS three times and missed once. It posted revenues of $5.7 billion for the quarter ended June 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.71%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $4.7 billion. GPI topped consensus revenue estimates in each of the last four quarters.

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