Penske Automotive reports Q3 EPS $3.23, consensus $3.40

Reports Q3 revenue $7.7B, consensus $7.72B. Commenting on the company’s third quarter results, chair Roger Penske said, “Overall, I am pleased with our performance during the third quarter. We grew same-store retail automotive new units delivered by 4%, reduced new vehicle inventory days supply by 6 days from the end of June and increased retail automotive service and parts revenue to a quarterly record of $818.3 million, including same-store service and parts revenue growth of 5%. In addition to the growth in service and parts revenue, we increased service and parts gross margin by 110 basis points and improved fixed cost absorption by 380 basis points in our U.S. retail automotive operations. However, overall profitability in the quarter was impacted by continued weakness in the North American freight market which drove lower sales and service of commercial trucks, coupled with challenges in the U.K auto retail market from a cyber security incident at one of our OEM partners, an increase in social program costs in the U.K., and a higher tax rate. As a result, third quarter earnings before taxes was negatively impacted by approximately $23 million.”