AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), America's largest and most recognized automotive retailer (the "Company"), announced today the pricing of $500 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due 2030 at 4.750% (the "notes"). The notes will be issued at 99.479% of the aggregate principal amount, representing a yield to maturity of 4.816%. The offering is expected to close on May 22, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

AutoNation (AN) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of 30.00% and 2.47%, respectively, for the quarter ended March 2020. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?

The number of cases of COVID-19 rose above 4.1 million on Monday, as South Korea reported a new cluster stemming from Seoul’s nightclub district and China reported four new cases in Wuhan, the city believed to be the source of the outbreak late last year.

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, and Heidi Chung break down the market action for Autonation.

Shares of AutoNation (NYSE:AN) moved higher by 6.50% after the company reported Q1 results.Quarterly Results Earnings per share were down 13.33% year over year to $0.91, which beat the estimate of $0.69.Revenue of $4,667,000,000 less by 6.32% from the same period last year, which beat the estimate of $4,610,000,000.Outlook Earnings guidance hasn't been issued by the company for now.AutoNation hasn't issued any revenue guidance for the time being.Details Of The Call Date: May 11, 2020View more earnings on ANWebcast URL: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Finvestors.autonation.com%2Fhome%2Fdefault.aspx&eventid=2306362&sessionid=1&key=EA29E83307607B982A29457F1E176E51®Tag=&sourcepage=registerRecent Stock Performance Company's 52-week high was at $53.19Company's 52-week low was at $20.59Price action over last quarter: down 13.77%Company Overview AutoNation is the largest automotive dealer in the United States, with 2019 revenue of $21.3 billion and over 230 dealerships. The firm also has five AutoNation USA used-vehicle stores and 81 collision centers all across 16 states primarily in Sunbelt metropolitan areas. New-vehicle sales account for about 52% of revenue; the company also sells used vehicles, parts, and repair services as well as auto financing. The company (formerly Republic Industries) spun off its waste management unit (Republic Services) in 1999 and its car rental businesses (ANC Rental) in 2000.See more from Benzinga * Recap: Intercept Pharmaceuticals Q1 Earnings * Coty: Q3 Earnings Insights * Recap: Golub Capital BDC Q2 Earnings(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Light-vehicle sales have risen for six straight weeks. That is a good sign for beaten-up car stocks and for the economy.

Shares of AutoNation Inc. were indicated up over 2% in premarket trading Monday, after the new and used car retailer reported first-quarter profit that beat expectations, but revenue that fell a bit shy as 95% of its revenue were from states with stay-at-home orders because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company swung to a net loss of $232.3 million, or $2.58 a share, from net income of $92.0 million, or $1.01 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, adjusted earnings per share declined to 91 cents from 95 cents but was above the FactSet consensus of 70 cents. Revenue fell 6.3% to $4.67 billion, just below the FactSet consensus of $4.69 billion. New vehicle sales dropped 8.6% to $2.28 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $2.23 billion, and used vehicle sales declined 6.8% to $1.25 billion to miss expectations of $1.29 billion. In April, new and used vehicle sales were down 52% during the first 10 days of the month, but improved to being down 19% during the final 10 days of the month. The stock has declined 17.6% over the past three months through Friday while the S&P 500 has lost 12.8%.

Detroit is reopening, China is rebounding, and two other developments sent auto stocks soaring Monday.

While AutoNation's (AN) Q1 earnings and sales surpass estimates, the metrics decline year over year amid heightened coronavirus woes.

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury Secretary and two of Elon Musk’s peers spoke out in support of Tesla Inc.’s bid to reopen its lone U.S. car plant, amping up the pressure on California officials who say it’s not safe yet.“He’s one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday on CNBC. “California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly and safely.”Mike Jackson, the chairman and chief executive officer of AutoNation Inc., the biggest car-dealership chain in the U.S., said Musk’s frustration is “entirely understandable.” On Saturday, Tesla sued the California county that’s been blocking Musk’s effort to reopen. The outspoken CEO threatened to move the company’s operations out of state, calling the local public-health officer “unelected & ignorant.”“The auto plants should resume production appropriately and safely, and I include in that the Tesla plant in California, even though I don’t sell Teslas,” Jackson, a long-time Musk critic, said in an interview. “We need to start the journey on production now -- now is the moment.”Taken together, the comments are indicative of the pressure state and local governments are feeling amid President Donald Trump’s inconsistent handling of reopening the economy. Even as Covid-19 cases climbed to multiply totals confirmed by other major countries, Trump pressured governors last month to “liberate” their states, then second-guessed leaders both for reopening too soon and too slowly.Georgia’s Brian Kemp, for instance, was one of the Republican governors who was last to order citizens to shelter at home, then rushed to become one the first to lift them. After Kemp began relaxing social-distancing measures last month, Trump said he disagreed with what the governor was doing.South Dakota’s Kristi Noem also signed on to a mayor’s effort to force the world’s biggest pork producer to shut its virus-stricken plant, only to then be overruled by Trump’s executive order to keep meat plants running.Tesla shares pared a decline of as much as 4.2% to trade down less than 1% as of 2 p.m. Monday in New York. The stock has surged more than 90% this year.Supportive CEOsAutoNation isn’t the only company in corporate America jumping to Tesla’s defense. Lourenco Goncalves, the CEO of steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., said Monday there’s “a lot more ways to enforce social distance in a car manufacturer than anywhere else.”“We are seeing Tesla in a big fight with California right now because of that,” Goncalves said on the company’s earnings call, noting that Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas aren’t standing in the way of auto production restarting in their states.The support from AutoNation is surprising since Tesla has been on a years-long crusade to disrupt car dealers by waging state-by-state legal battles to sell its electric cars directly to consumers. Jackson, 71, has chided Tesla over the years for its production struggles and delivery delays, criticized the company’s valuation and questioned its progress on autonomous-driving technology.But Jackson said it’s critical that auto factories reopen as soon as possible. Restarting production will be a “monumental challenge” given the need to navigate shutdown orders in various jurisdictions, including in Mexico. He declined to estimate when the industry will be back to full production.“It’s going to be difficult, complicated, with fits and starts, twists and turns, and surprises,” he said.Detroit DifferenceMichigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer cleared the way for manufacturers in her state to reopen starting this week, which will allow parts suppliers to support General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s plans to restart their North American plants beginning May 18.California’s Gavin Newsom let manufacturing resume in parts of the state on May 8, but he’s permitted local leaders to remain more restrictive. Alameda County blocked Musk from reopening his assembly plant in Fremont last week.Tesla released a 38-page “Return to Work Playbook” late Saturday laying out the safety protocols it will adopt at all of its facilities. While the company will disinfect work areas, enforce social-distancing precautions and provide personal-protective equipment, among other measures, the document doesn’t include any plans to test workers other than by checking their temperatures.Alameda officials have said more testing needs to come online and that Covid-19 case counts need to drop before they’ll feel comfortable moving to the next phase of reopening.Musk kept the pressure campaign going on Monday, by replying to a letter from the county judge in Texas where his rocket company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has built a launch site.“Hidalgo County, Texas is available to immediately accommodate you and Tesla,” Richard F. Cortez, the judge, wrote in a letter posted on the county’s Twitter account.“Note is much appreciated,” Musk replied.(Updates with steel producer CEO’s comment in the ninth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

The coronavirus pandemic has spurred U.S. companies with investment-grade credit ratings to borrow at the fastest pace in history to start a year, with new bond issuance topping $1 trillion in less than five months, supported by Federal Reserve programs to buy corporate bonds.

Earnings and revenue surpassed projections, but are down year-over-year Continue reading...

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to AutoNation First Quarter 2020 Earning Calls and Audio Webcast. Leading our call today will be Mike Jackson, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Joe Lower, our Chief Financial Officer.

AutoNation, the No. 1 U.S. car dealer, swung to a first-quarter loss while adjusted earnings beat analysts' estimates.

Both Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) report dismal year-over-year results for fiscal fourth-quarter 2020, thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.

Shares of Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ: CAR) and Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE: HTZ), well-known vehicle rental companies, and the nation's largest auto retailer AutoNation (NYSE: AN) declined 10% early Wednesday after concerns that plunging used car prices could be exacerbated by a possible Hertz bankruptcy -- a development that would send ripple effects across the auto industry. As you can see in the graph above, Avis and Hertz have been decimated by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and the economic and travel restrictions it brought. In fact, Avis expects April and May to post a crippling 80% decline in revenues, which is one reason the company tapped the junk bond market for $500 million to help weather the COVID-19-driven economic downturn.

Most of Ford Motor Co's U.S. dealers received payroll protection loans from the U.S. government amid the coronavirus pandemic, the automaker's chief operating officer said on Thursday. Early in the outbreak, Ford "made sure" its U.S. dealers applied with the U.S. Small Business Administration for federal loans to protect their payrolls and employees, Jim Farley said during the company's annual shareholder meeting held online. Ford worked closely with its network of just over 3,000 U.S. franchised dealers to ensure they were aware of the loan process and tracked their progress, spokesman Said Deep said after the meeting.

The Treasury Department says Paycheck Protection Program loans are not meant for “a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets” and given big borrowers a May 18 deadline. Here’s how the returns are going.

In the short run it looks like shares of the auto retailer that just posted an first-quarter earnings beat can trade higher, though the longer-term trend is still bearish.

It's good to see businesses emerge from the worst of the COVID-19