Lithia posts adjusted earnings of $10.34 a share, beating third-quarter estimates

Key Facts

Lithia Motors beat market expectations for earnings per share and revenue in the third quarter of 2026, but its shares fell in premarket trading, according to an Investing.com report dated October 21, 2026. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $10.34, compared with analysts' expectations of $9.70, as the results combined estimate beats with year-over-year declines in some business metrics. The company said in its disclosure that revenue reached a third-quarter record of about $9.9 billion. Adjusted net income, however, fell 5% year over year to $229.3 million, despite the rise in adjusted earnings per share. The shares fell 2.46% to $292.15 before the open as the results were announced, according to Investing.com.

On a GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share were $13.22 in the third quarter, according to Lithia's disclosure, exceeding the adjusted earnings it reported for the same period. In calculating the adjusted result, the company excluded an unrealized gain on its investment in Pinewood, along with other non-core items. On capital allocation, Lithia repurchased $85 million of shares during the quarter, with Chief Executive Bryan DeBoer highlighting the lower share count in his comments on the results. DeBoer said that "a meaningfully lower share count amplifies the impact of every dollar we earn," linking the share count to earnings in calculating earnings per share. At the end of September, about $535 million remained available under the share repurchase authorization, allowing the company to continue buybacks.

In its sales breakdown, Investing.com reported actual third-quarter revenue of $9.95 billion, compared with a market consensus estimate of $9.79 billion. The revenue beat was accompanied by a 1.4% decline in same-store revenue from the same period a year earlier, according to the website. The metric had moved in the opposite direction in the third quarter of 2025, when Lithia reported same-store growth. Growth at that time was 7.7% compared with the third quarter of 2024, according to the company's earnings disclosure for that period. Same-store revenue thus shifted from growth in the previous annual comparison to a decline in the current results, while total revenue reached a third-quarter record.

In its used-vehicle business, Lithia reported an improvement in gross profit per vehicle sold at retail during the third quarter of 2026. The increase was $197 per vehicle compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the company's statement, an improvement that accompanied the decline in same-store revenue. The increase represented 11% annual growth in gross profit per unit in used-vehicle retail sales. In after-sales services, the same-store gross profit margin was 59.5% during the same quarter, according to the disclosure. The improvement in profit per used vehicle and the after-sales services margin were among the operating profitability details Lithia reported, alongside the results of its financing business.

The financing business generated income of $32.3 million during the third quarter of 2026, according to Lithia's disclosure, as loan originations reached a record. Those loans totaled $937 million during the period, while the business's income was below the previous quarter's level. In its second-quarter results for the same year, the company reported record financing operations income of $37 million. That puts third-quarter financing income below the peak recorded in the second quarter, while loan originations reached the record level reported in the current results. Financing operations, along with used-vehicle sales and after-sales services, were among the businesses whose results the company detailed in its third-quarter disclosure.

In the next step for shareholders, Lithia's board approved a cash dividend of $0.75 per share as part of its third-quarter 2026 earnings announcement. The new dividend is higher than the dividend the board approved when it announced second-quarter results for the same year. The previous dividend was $0.70 per share, according to the company's disclosure for that period, compared with the higher amount approved in the current announcement. The new dividend will be payable to shareholders of record on November 6, 2026, according to the date set by the company in its earnings statement. Lithia expects to pay the cash dividend on November 20, 2026, with payment following the shareholder record date in the same month.