A strong fourth-quarter earnings report from AutoNation on Friday propelled the automotive vendor’s inventory to a brand new all-time excessive and its finest day in practically three years.

The Florida-based dealership group reported an adjusted earnings per share of $6.37 and income of $6.7 billion for the earlier quarter. That compares to analyst expectations of $5.83 a share and $6.5 billion in income, based on Refinitiv.

AutoNation closed Friday at $157.30 a share, marking a brand new excessive for the auto vendor’s inventory following an 11.4 % enhance to finish the week. It was the inventory’s finest every day efficiency since April 2020 and a brand new record-high closing value.

The rise follows AutoNation final 12 months decreasing shares excellent by 25% because it repurchased 15.6 million shares, together with 4.6 million throughout the fourth quarter.

AutoNation CEO Mike Manley attributed the strong quarter and report 12 months of earnings to operational execution in addition to new all-time excessive earnings in after gross sales and buyer financing.

“Through the 12 months, we expanded our footprint, launched extra transportation options, and leveraged our sturdy money circulate to fund investments and return capital to shareholders,” Manley mentioned in a launch.

AutoNation’s 2022 money flows from operations had been a report $1.7 billion. Its web earnings final 12 months was roughly flat from 2021, regardless of a 26% decline within the fourth quarter to $286.4 million.

Massive sellers corresponding to AutoNation have been reporting report outcomes throughout the coronavirus pandemic, as client demand remained resilient however new automobile inventories had been at report lows on account of manufacturing interruptions because of the world well being disaster in addition to provide chain issues.

The circumstances pushed AutoNation to pivot to promote extra used vehicles than new throughout the pandemic, as those that could not afford or discover a new automobile moved to the used automotive market. That propelled costs to new report highs and earnings for used automobile gross sales.

Car inventories have been slowly rising for a lot of auto manufacturers in latest months. Nevertheless, there stay hurdles and Wall Road has been monitoring for a “demand destruction” situation through which pent-up demand from the previous three years is depleted.

AutoNation didn’t launch steerage for 2023. Manley instructed Automotive Information he expects the seasonally adjusted annual charge of light-vehicle gross sales to be shut to fifteen million this 12 months, up from 13.7 million in 2022.

“I believe for the foreseeable future, the retail business will proceed to evolve together with how prospects method automobile possession and utilization,” he mentioned throughout an earnings name Friday. “And it is an thrilling time, frankly to be on the section and we consider the evolving panorama presents many alternatives.”