FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — AutoNation Inc. (AN) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $186.1 million.

The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company said it had profit of $4.64 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and severance costs, were $4.97 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $4.26 per share.

The auto retailer posted revenue of $7.21 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $6.64 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $692.2 million, or $16.92 per share. Revenue was reported as $26.77 billion.

AutoNation shares have climbed 13% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has climbed 27%. The stock has climbed 31% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AN