BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) _ Penske Automotive Group Inc. (PAG) on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings of $246.6 million.

The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company said it had profit of $3.07 per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains, were $2.87 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.59 per share.

The auto dealership chain posted revenue of $5.97 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.54 billion.

Penske shares have increased 12% since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased 18% 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 PAG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PAG

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