Benzinga | Jul 21, 2021 06:27AM EDT

Lithia Motors Q2 Result Smashes Estimates

* Lithia Motors Inc (NYSE:LAD) reported second-quarter FY21 sales growth of 118% year-on-year to $6 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $4.99 billion.

* New-vehicle retail sales rose 130% Y/Y, and used vehicle retail sales increased 95.7% Y/Y.

* The company raked in $4.13 billion in same-store revenues, a 52.9% hike Y/Y.

* Gross profit for the quarter was $1.11 billion, a 139.1% increase Y/Y and the gross margin improved 170 basis points Y/Y to 18.5%.

* Total vehicle gross profit per unit rose 41.3% Y/Y to $5,723.

* Adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of gross profit improved Y/Y by 900 basis points from 64.7% to 55.7%.

* A 7.4% operating margin with $446.3 million in operating income was recorded in the quarter.

* Adjusted EBITDA improved 208.8% to $492.3 million.

* Adjusted EPS of $11.2 beat the analyst consensus of $5.85.

* Cash and equivalents totaled $780.9 million as of June 30, 2021. The company had $1.57 billion net debt as of June 30, 2021.

* "Combined with our outpaced growth in our core business and network development, we are considerably ahead of our year one goals laid out in our 5-Year Plan announced in July 2020," said CEO Bryan DeBoer.

* Price action: LAD shares closed higher by 5.88% at $355.56 on Tuesday.