DULUTH, Ga. -

A Wall Street analyst wondered why Group 1 Automotive is aggressively acquiring more dealerships while other groups seem to be throttling back their store-growth activities.

Group 1 president and chief executive officer Earl Hesterberg said the fact that the company acquired 14 stores during the first three quarters is all about generating the most return possible for shareholders, a process he said is in the company’s “DNA.”

To recap, during the third quarter, Group 1 purchased a Hyundai franchise in Houston that is estimated to generate $30.0 million in annual revenues. The company also disposed of a Lincoln franchise in Houston that generated trailing-12-month revenues of $17.6 million.

Then earlier this month, Group 1 acquired a Hyundai dealership in Oklahoma City that is estimated to generate $45.0 million in annual revenues. The company also disposed of a Nissan dealership and a Mazda dealership in the Boston area that generated $67.2 million in combined annual revenues during the last 12 months.

Year to date, Group 1 has acquired 14 franchises that are expected to generate $580.0 million in annual revenues and disposed of three franchises that generated $84.8 million of annual revenues.

“I don’t think the environment has changed that much. I don’t think we have bought any of the overpriced dealerships because we can’t afford to do that and deliver for our shareholders,” Hesterberg said during Group 1’s quarterly conference call last week.

“It’s still our intention and desire to grow the company. That’s still the preferred use of our cash. We still have good liquidity. We’ll continue to work that direction,” he continued.

The analyst followed up with a question about how large Hesterberg hopes Group 1 becomes. Currently, the group owns and operates 121 dealerships, 158 franchises and 30 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“We’ve never really tried to identify a target size for the company,” Hesterberg said. “What we target is consistent annual shareholder growth of 15 percent or more per year, which we’ve obviously been able to do in particular with the market recovery.

“I can’t tell you if we want to be a $10 billion company or a 250-store company,” he continued. “Our job is to find good opportunities for our shareholders as fast as we can find them and to the degree we can afford them.

“It is difficult and has been difficult. But over the period of a year or so we’ve been able to find ways to grow our company and we’re going to continue to try to do that,” Hesterberg concluded.