Lithia Motors

Lithia bought back 85 million dollars of its own stock this quarter and has retired 8.7 percent of its shares in 2026 alone. With fewer shares, each dollar of profit is split among fewer owners. That lifted profit per share 9 percent to 10.34 dollars, not counting one-time items. The quarterly dividend also just got a 7 percent raise to 75 cents.

The service garage is where Lithia really cashes in. Service and parts profit grew 2.4 percent, and the garage keeps almost 60 cents of every dollar customers spend there. Profit on each used car sold jumped 11 percent. Lithia's in-house car loan arm earned 32.3 million dollars, up 69 percent, on a record 937 million dollars in new loans.

The eye-catching 54 percent jump in earnings per share came mostly from a paper gain on a software company Lithia owns a stake in, not from selling more cars. Leave that gain out and underlying profit actually fell 5 percent to 229 million dollars. Revenue grew just 3 percent, so the core business is steady, not sprinting.

Selling cars is a low-profit game. Lithia keeps only about 2 cents of profit from every dollar of sales, and its finance and insurance revenue slipped 4.5 percent this quarter. The company also borrows heavily to stock its lots and buy new stores, so higher interest rates, tariffs, or a recession could squeeze it fast.