Penske Automotive's Q4 net income declines amid record revenue

Penske Automotive Group Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income dipped as the auto retailer faced lower average gross profits for each new and used vehicle sold and hits by foreign currency exchange, though higher new-vehicle sales helped it reach record fourth-quarter revenue.

Penske reported Wednesday that net income declined 4.3 percent to $299.3 million, while revenue for the quarter climbed 11 percent to $7 billion.

The company said that foreign currency exchange reduced net income by $6 million and revenue by $380.9 million in the quarter.

Penske CEO Roger Penske said in a statement that the fourth quarter was "driven by demand for new vehicles in both our automotive and commercial truck dealerships coupled with continued service and parts revenue growth and expense control."

Revenue for Penske's standalone used-vehicle CarShop division fell 15 percent to $336 million on sales of 14,028 vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 5 percent. For the full year, CarShop revenue rose 16 percent to $1.73 billion on sales of 71,242 vehicles, a jump of 12 percent.

While most of Penske's revenue comes from automotive retail, the company also reported that pretax earnings from its commercial truck dealerships increased 14 percent and income from its ownership stake in Penske Transportation Solutions rose 9 percent in the quarter.

Shares of Penske Automotive rose 1.2 percent to close at $136.44 on Wednesday.

Q4 revenue: $7 billion, up 11 percent from a year earlier

Q4 net income: $299.3 million, down 4.3 percent

Q4 adjusted income from continuing operations: $298 million, down 7 percent from a year earlier

Q4 vehicle sales: 108,333 combined new- and used-vehicle sales, up 6.5 percent. On a same-store basis, Penske sold 102,906 new and used vehicles, up 2.3 percent. Penske didn't specify its U.S. sales.

Records: Fourth-quarter revenue and earnings per share. Yearly revenue, pretax earnings, income from continuing operations and earnings per share

2022 revenue: $27.8 billion, up 8.8 percent

2022 net income: $1.4 billion, up 16 percent

2022 adjusted income from continuing operations: $1.38 billion, up 13 percent

Ranking: Penske, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., ranks No. 3 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 195,384 new vehicles in 2021.