Autonation posts $1.41 BILLION 3rd Quarter LOSS...

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The bigger they are, the harder they fall...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_J-YWI1c0kBRLb0dv9bfDHQLoSwD949GM280

AutoNation swings to $1.41 billion 3Q loss
By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — AutoNation Inc. said Thursday it swung to a loss in the third quarter, with customers finding it increasingly difficult to get a car loan and the overall economy heading south.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based AutoNation, the nation's largest automotive retailer, said it lost $1.41 billion, or $7.99 per share, compared with a profit of $72.1 million, or 37 cents per share, a year ago. It recorded non-cash charges for goodwill and franchise impairments of $1.46 billion after-tax.

Revenue fell 21 percent to $3.5 billion from $4.5 billion in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected earnings of 29 cents per share on revenue of $3.88 billion. Those estimates typically exclude charges.

Shares fell 12 cents to $5.97 in early trading Thursday. The stock has traded between $3.97 and $19.59 over the last 52 weeks.
The company said the tough vehicle market and the drop in its share price resulted in the charges. Excluding those items, AutoNation said it earned $44 million, or 25 cents per share.
 
I can honestly say, that this is the LAST place I'd ever buy a car... These super mega dealerships do nothing for me.
 
AutoNation has numerous domestic dealers, which is why they are loosing so much money. They closed a huge Ford dealer near me a few months ago that was built maybe 8 years ago or so. The funny thing is they are always advertising for sales people-it's almost impossible to make a living in car sales.
 
The "domestic dealer" issue is not the case in my area. After doing a dealer search on the Autonation site, here's the breakdown.

Domestics - 1
Non-domestic - 11
 
They are very BIG down here in south FL and its not surprising that parking garages packed with 5 floors of domestic cars/trucks/SUV are not selling.

Even before the down turn in the economy.... I always wondered why did they decided to build such mega gigantic dealerships.
 
Sounds like a bit of "book cooking" to me w/ that huge write down for "good will and impairment". Why would a downturn in economy cause these? I suspect they are setting stage for a "huge turnaround" to bounce their stock price and allow some sorry execs to "cash out" their options.

regards
 
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