Lithia Motors (LAD) announced a profit of $7.2 million or 33 cents per share, before special items, in the third quarter, an improvement from $1.45 million or 7 cents per share in the year-ago period. This was attributed to increased sales due to the U.S. Government’s “Cash for Clunkers" cash incentive program for fuel-efficient vehicles. The auto retailer managed to nearly meet the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 34 cents per share.

Revenues in the quarter declined 10% to $458 million driven by lower new vehicle sales. New vehicle sales fell 15% to $242 million while used vehicle sales remained almost flat at $136 million. Same store new vehicle sales declined 14.3% while used vehicle sales increased 3.9% on a year-over-year basis.   Lithia’s gross profit margin increased 190 basis points to 18.7%. New vehicle margin rose 110 basis points to 8.8%, used vehicle retail margin elevated 490 basis points to

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Group 1 Automotive (GPI) revealed a profit of $16.8 million or 71 cents per share in the third quarter, an improvement from $8.2 million or 37 cents per share in the same quarter of the previous year. With this, the company marginally exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 70 cents per share. However, weakness in the auto industry reduced Group 1’s revenue by 13% to $1.25 billion. The U.S. Government’s “Cash for Clunkers" cash incentive program for fuel-efficient vehicles helped the auto retailer gain in the same-store gross margin. In the quarter, same-store gross margin improved to 17% from 16% in the prior-year quarter. Group 1 retailed 25,057 new vehicles during the quarter, of which 4,874 vehicles were channeled through the Clunkers program. Group 1’s margin improvement in used vehicle as well as in parts and service business also helped gain the overall margin. Same-store used ...

RSC Holdings (NYSE: RRR): Stock of the Day

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

Finally Finding a Bottom… At Least In Something

Around my circle of friends, I’m known as “Mr. Fixit” – of course, when your house is 200 years old, you almost have to be.

Fortunately for me, taking things apart and putting them back together again – in working order, of course – is something that comes naturally to me. Most of the time, I have the tool or tools to handle the job. If not, I’ll either buy it or rent it, depending on the likelihood of my ever needing it again.

Of course, in the business world, companies large and small have Mr. Fixits too. The maintenance guys are the ones that are called to handle the inevitable broken pieces of equipment, leaky pipes, frayed

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