CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Sonic Automotive Inc. (SAH) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $38.7 million.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of $1.11 per share. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and pretax expenses, came to $1.63 per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.80 per share.

The auto dealer posted revenue of $3.58 billion in the period, matching Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $178.2 million, or $4.97 per share. Revenue was reported as $14.37 billion.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SAH at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SAH

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, STATS Perform dba Automated Insights. , source Associated Press News