Share Repurchases a Big Part of AutoNation's Q3

AutoNation’s third quarter saw adjusted diluted EPS rise year over year by 17.2% to $6.00 but still miss the Refinitiv consensus of $6.27. We are increasing our fair value estimate to $149 from $137 on the time value of money and from lowering our share count by about 10% to reflect large share repurchase activity this year that we expect to continue in 2023. Through the first nine months of 2022 the company repurchased 10.9 million shares for $1.2 billion and in the fourth quarter so far has repurchased another 2.7 million shares for about $287 million, which equates to 22% of the shares outstanding at the start of the year. The company announced a new $1 billion buyback authorization, which brings the total authorization to $1.4 billion.