MEDFORD, Ore. -

In what turned out to be the company’s best second quarter for earnings per share in five years, Lithia Motors achieved double-digit gains in same-store used revenue and same-store used sales, the company revealed Wednesday.

Furthermore, Lithia more than doubled its adjusted net income from continuing operations, which totaled $14.6 million ($0.54 per share), up from $7.0 million ($0.27 per share) in the year-ago period.

Officials explained that the results from the most recent period do not include a $0.01 per share non-core benefit stemming from a tax item, while the year-ago results do not include a $0.33 per non-core charge regarding asset impairment and reserve adjustments.

When these changes are taken into account, the second-quarter 2011 net income is $14.8 million ($0.55 per share), while the year-ago period would be a $1.6 million ($0.06 per share) net loss.

Revenue from continuing operations came in at $689.1 million versus $530.2 million generated in the second quarter of 2010.

“We had a better than expected quarter, with revenue up 30 percent year-over-year, and the highest second quarter earnings per share since 2006,” said Lithia chairman and chief executive officer Sid DeBoer. “We continue to build on the momentum we have created over the past 24 months through our philosophy of continuous improvement.”

Breaking the same-store data down further, retail used revenue climbed 16.2 percent to $168.7 million, while retail new revenue was up 24.3 percent at $332.5 million. Used wholesale revenue climbed 14.3 percent to $28.5 million.

Additionally, used retail sales climbed 14.5 percent on a same-store basis to 9,789 units, while new sales jumped 20.4 percent to 10,398 vehicles. Used wholesale was up 15.6 percent at 3,745 sales.

First-Half Results

Moving on, Lithia delved into its first-half performance.

It pulled in revenue from continuing operations of $1.3 billion, up from $1.0 billion a year ago.

The company generated $0.88 per share of adjusted net income from continuing operations, up from $0.36 per share a year ago. On an unadjusted basis, net income from continuing operations came in at $0.87 per share. In the first half of 2010, it was a loss of $0.01 per share.

Same-store used retail revenue increased 16.5 percent to $324.6 million, with $635.3 million (up 31.9 percent) coming in on the new side. Lithia generated $58.3 million in same-store wholesale revenue, an uptick of 22.1 percent.

Sharing more same-store results, Lithia sold 19,310 used-retail vehicles in the first half of the year (up 16.4 percent), while moving 20,025 new units (up 29.5 percent) and 7,526 wholesale used vehicles (up 16.7 percent).

Looking forward to the rest of the year, DeBoer added: “The outlook for the remainder of 2011 remains volatile.

“Gas prices have fluctuated over the past three months, unemployment remains high, and the supply disruption that affected Japanese manufacturers will reduce vehicle availability through the third quarter,” he continued. “We anticipate new vehicle inventory will recover to normal levels by the first quarter of 2012.”

As far as its third-quarter guidance, Lithia is forecasting that earnings will reach between $0.45 and $0.47 per share. For full-year earnings, Lithia believes they will hit between $1.67 and $1.73 per share.

Officials stressed that those predictions were made assuming certain performance metrics are met.