FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) _ AutoNation Inc. (AN) on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $279.8 million.

On a per-share basis, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company said it had net income of $3.18. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.41 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 36 cents per share.

The auto retailer posted revenue of $4.53 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.04 billion.

AutoNation shares have risen slightly since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased slightly more than 1%. The stock has risen 16% in the last 12 months.

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

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News