CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Sonic Automotive Inc. (SAH) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $96.3 million.

On a per-share basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of $2.25. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $2.66 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.83 per share.

The auto dealer posted revenue of $3.18 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.17 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $348.9 million, or $8.06 per share. Revenue was reported as $12.4 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

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