Shares of Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE:LAD) are trading lower in premarket on Wednesday after the company reported its first-quarter FY25 earnings.

The company reported first-quarter FY25 sales growth of 7.2% year-on-year to $9.18 billion, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $9.26 billion.

New vehicle, same-store units grew by 3.6%. New vehicle retail revenues increased 9.1% Y/Y, and used vehicle retail revenues climbed 4.2%.

Total vehicle gross profit per unit was $4,164. Gross profit rose 5.6% Y/Y to $1.41 billion, and the gross margin contracted 20 basis points to 15.4%.

Operating margin was 4.4%, and operating income for the quarter jumped 19% to $406.3 million.

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Adjusted EPS of $7.66 missed the consensus estimate of $7.69.

Lithia held $430.3 million in cash and equivalents as of the end of March. Operating cash flow for the quarter totaled $322.1 million.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 17.1% to $402.1 million. Net debt grew 1.8% Y/Y to $3.98 billion as of March-end.

The Board of Directors approved an increased dividend of $0.55 per share related to first quarter 2025 financial results, a 4% increase. The dividend is expected to be paid on May 23, 2025 to shareholders of record on May 9, 2025.

During the first quarter 2025, we repurchased approximately 403,000 shares at a weighted average price of $326. Under the current share repurchase authorization approximately $669.2 million remains available.

"We achieved profitable growth year over year in each month this quarter as we grew market share and drove operating efficiencies across our network and adjacencies," said President and CEO Bryan DeBoer.

Price Action: LAD shares traded lower by 3.96% at $283.82 in premarket at last check Wednesday.

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