UPDATE: Penske Automotive Q4 Profit Meets Estimates

reported in-line earnings for the fourth quarter. The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company reported a quarterly profit of $71.8 million, or $0.80 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $59.2 million, or $0.66 per share. Excluding items, the company's earnings from continuing operations rose 14.5% to $0.79 per share. Its revenue climbed 16.3% to $4.4 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.79 per share on revenue of $4.36 billion. Total retail unit sales climbed 10.5% to 98,251. The company's retail unit sales rose 8% in the U.S. and 16.9% internationally. New unit retail sales climbed 11.7%, while used unit retail sales surged 9.2%. Same-store retail revenue jumped 8.3%. Average transaction price per unit rose 0.8% to $40,642 for new vehicles and grew 1.5% to $27,035 for used vehicles. Penske Automotive Group Chairman Roger S. Penske said, "Strong results across the retail automotive dealership business and our U.S.-based commercial vehicle dealership business were partially offset by our Australian operations which were impacted by challenging economic conditions and post-acquisition restructuring costs within the Power Systems business." Penske Automotive shares rose 0.40% to close at $52.18 yesterday.