Brian Sponheimer, Gabelli Funds, LLC
All right, moving along — and another pivot from a company perspective. We have three very different companies to start the day.
AutoNation is the second largest dealership group in the U.S., with over 320 new vehicle franchises across more than 240 stores. It has been one of the most remarkable capital allocation stories I have seen.
The company currently has just under 37 million shares outstanding, trading around $200 as of last week, resulting in a $7.4 billion equity capitalization. With $3.7 billion in net debt, the enterprise value stands at approximately $11 billion.
Notably, the share count has significantly decreased from a peak of 458 million shares in 1999. Over the past 26 to 27 years, AutoNation has been an exceptional repurchaser of its own shares.
We are delighted to welcome Jeff Butler, President of AutoNation Finance, and Derek Fiebig, Vice President of Investor Relations. Derek has been with AutoNation for several years since his return, and Jeff helped launch the company’s new internal finance organization a couple of years ago.
We’re glad to have them with us today and will get right into some Q&A.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4837675-autonation-inc-an-presents-at-49th-annual-automotive-symposium-transcript?source=feed_all_articles
