By Adriano Marchese
Shares of AutoCanada fell sharply Thursday after the car-dealership operator said expiring incentives, tariff shifts and weak consumer demand dragged down its fourth-quarter results.
Shares fell 19% to 16.30 Canadian dollars.
"Demand was affected by prior-period pull-forward activity," said Chief Executive Samuel Cochrane, pointing to the sunset of Canadian electric-vehicle tax credits that had benefited the fourth quarter of 2024, as well as tariff-related policy changes that drove stronger demand in the first half of 2025.
The comparison was further skewed by persistent affordability pressures on consumers, while industry gross profit per vehicle fell as inventory improved and pricing normalized, Cochrane said.
"Industrywide performance was impacted in the fourth quarter by these dynamics, which have also created tough comparisons as we entered 2026," he said.
Revenue in the fourth quarter fell nearly 12% to C$1.12 billion, just shy of analyst forecasts for about C$1.13 billion, with same-store sales slipping 9.4%. The decline was largely due to fewer new- and used-vehicle sales, as well as lower revenue from parts and service and from finance and insurance, it said late Wednesday.
The downturn pushed AutoCanada to a net loss of C$2.3 million, or C$0.06 a share, compared with a profit of C$9.8 million, or C$0.45 a share, a year earlier.
AutoCanada said the fourth quarter unfolded amid a period of significant internal change, as the company moved through a leadership transition and completed a cost-transformation program that it said delivered about C$115 million in annualized run-rate savings in 2025.
Cochrane said the scale and speed of the transformation caused temporary operational disruptions in the second half of the year, weighing on sales productivity and causing performance to fall behind the broader market.
"We have identified the issues, put new operating leadership in place, and are focused on closing the gap to market through 2026," he said.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2026 12:43 ET (16:43 GMT)
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