AutoNation Inc (AN) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Brika, and I'll be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the AutoNation First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

早上好。我叫 Brika，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 AutoNation 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Derek Fiebig, Vice President of Investor Relations. So Derek, you may begin your conference.

我現在想把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Derek Fiebig。那麼 Derek，你可以開始你的會議了。

Thanks, Brika, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to AutoNation's First Quarter 2023 Conference Call. Later on our call today will be Mike Manley, our Chief Executive Officer; and Joe Lower, our CFO. Following their remarks, we'll open up the call for questions. Before beginning, I'd like to remind you that certain statements and information on this call, including any statements regarding our anticipated financial results and objectives, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

謝謝，Brika，大家早上好。歡迎來到 AutoNation 2023 年第一季度電話會議。今天晚些時候，我們的首席執行官 Mike Manley 將出席我們的電話會議；和我們的首席財務官 Joe Lower。在他們發言之後，我們將開始提問。在開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議的某些陳述和信息，包括關於我們預期財務結果和目標的任何陳述，構成 1995 年聯邦私人證券訴訟改革法案含義內的前瞻性陳述。

Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Additional discussions of factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are contained in our press release issued today and in our filings with the SEC. Certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules will be discussed on this call. Reconciliations are provided in our materials in our website located at investors.autonation.com.

此類前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險，這些風險可能導致我們的實際結果或業績與此類前瞻性陳述存在重大差異。我們今天發布的新聞稿和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中包含對可能導致我們的實際結果產生重大差異的因素的其他討論。本次電話會議將討論 SEC 規則中定義的某些非 GAAP 財務措施。在我們位於 investors.autonation.com 的網站上的材料中提供了對賬。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給邁克。

Yes. Thanks, Derek, and good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining us today. We reported first quarter EPS of $6.07 and that really is a result of our resilience of our business in this environment, but coupled with our disciplined capital allocation. And as a result of those 2 things, that $6.07 was a record result for us.

是的。謝謝，德里克，大家早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們報告的第一季度每股收益為 6.07 美元，這確實是我們業務在這種環境下的彈性的結果，但加上我們有紀律的資本配置。由於這兩件事，6.07 美元對我們來說是一個創紀錄的結果。

Now Joe will take you through the numbers in detail but before that, I wanted to discuss how we've been successfully navigating in the current environment and where we'll be taking the business in the future. Obviously, there's a lot of mixed economic signals in the market and within auto retail, which do warrant, I think, a more cautionary approach than the past few years. Although I think it's also evident that the current economic environment is having an impact. Some of the concerns as late last year have not yet manifested themselves to the extent some thought they would and a consumer, in our opinion, is in no way tapped out, and the industry is benefiting from lower unit sales over the past few years and an aging vehicle park, which has historically supported demand within the industry.

現在 Joe 將帶您詳細了解這些數字，但在此之前，我想討論一下我們如何在當前環境中成功導航，以及我們未來將把業務帶到哪裡。顯然，市場和汽車零售業存在許多混合的經濟信號，我認為這確實需要比過去幾年更加謹慎的做法。儘管我認為當前的經濟環境正在產生影響也很明顯。去年年底的一些擔憂尚未表現出一些人認為他們會表現出來的程度，我們認為，消費者絕不會被挖掘出來，該行業正受益於過去幾年較低的單位銷售額和一個老化的停車場，它在歷史上支持了行業內的需求。

Now for New Vehicles, industry -- inventory remained well below historical levels, and we have seen some recovery, but there is a wide variation amongst brands and models. First quarter new sales increased from a year ago, driven by a large increase in fleet vehicles with retail units up slightly. Even with the recent increase in sales, the industry still remains at or near recessionary levels.

現在對於新車，行業 - 庫存仍遠低於歷史水平，我們已經看到一些復甦，但品牌和型號之間存在很大差異。第一季度新銷量較上年同期有所增長，這是由於車隊車輛數量大幅增加，零售單位略有增長。即使最近銷售額有所增加，該行業仍處於或接近衰退水平。

AutoNation unit mix for the quarter were in line with industry after accounting for our brand mix. So if you look at our portfolio and the way the industry shaped out, our New Vehicle sales were, as I just said, in line with the industry for that period.

在考慮了我們的品牌組合後，本季度的 AutoNation 單位組合與行業一致。因此，如果你看看我們的產品組合和行業的發展方式，正如我剛才所說，我們的新車銷量與那個時期的行業一致。

Our New Vehicle profitability was solid, as you've seen, PVRs continue to moderate as expected as the inventory increase, yet remained very robust at more than $5,200.

正如您所見，我們的新車盈利能力穩健，隨著庫存增加，PVR 繼續像預期的那樣放緩，但仍然非常強勁，超過 5,200 美元。

Moving to Used Vehicles. As we discussed on our last call, availability of Used Vehicle inventory will be a key thing this year and the lower new unit sales over the past years have led to scarcity of supply of late model new vehicles. As of the end of last year, the population of vehicles 5 years and less of age was down about 10% from 2019 and vehicles 3 years and less were down more than 15% from 2019. In addition, the turnover of younger used vehicles, which are more of our sweet spot has also declined as consumers are holding on to their vehicles for longer. But I do have to say that none of this was unexpected.

轉向二手車。正如我們在上次電話會議上討論的那樣，二手車庫存的可用性將是今年的一個關鍵問題，過去幾年新車銷量下降導致後期新車供應短缺。截至去年底，5年及以下車齡較2019年下降約10%，3年及以下車齡較2019年下降逾15%。隨著消費者持有車輛的時間更長，我們更喜歡的地方也有所下降。但我不得不說，這一切都不是意料之外的。

Now to help offset the resulting reduction in used volumes, we focused on enhancing economics through effective self sourcing, reconditioning, speed to market and, of course, pricing. Our focus is squarely on internal sourcing, which is a strength of ours, asset turnover and avoiding purchasing vehicle that auctioned, which either require substantial reconditioning to get them up to the origination standard or come at a premium price, which would have significantly impacted our margin.

現在，為了幫助抵消由此導致的使用量減少，我們專注於通過有效的自我採購、修復、上市速度，當然還有定價來提高經濟性。我們的重點完全放在內部採購上，這是我們的強項，資產周轉率和避免購買拍賣的車輛，這要么需要大量翻新以使其達到原始標準，要么以高價出售，這將對我們產生重大影響利潤。

Used Vehicle gross profit was a first quarter record and up both year-over-year and on a sequential basis from the fourth quarter. Last year, in the first quarter, we made the tactical decision to realign, reposition and reduce our used car inventory. And I think that proved to be a prudent move as the year went on. It did, however, set us up for a tough comp per unit volume in Q1. We will remain nimble in our approach to used vehicles and the expansion of our AutoNation USA footprint remains a core tenet of our expansion and densification efforts.

二手車毛利創下第一季度記錄，與去年第四季度相比同比和環比均有所增長。去年第一季度，我們做出了重新調整、重新定位和減少二手車庫存的戰術決定。隨著時間的推移，我認為這是一個謹慎的舉動。然而，它確實為我們在第一季度的每單位體積提供了一個艱難的競爭。我們將在處理二手車方面保持靈活，擴大我們在美國 AutoNation 的足跡仍然是我們擴張和緻密化努力的核心原則。

Turning to CFS. We continue to lead the industry in customer financial services to increase product on -- focused on product penetration. We have structurally changed our CFS PVR, and we continue to average 2 products per vehicle. Product attachment for new vehicles has remained steady or not surprisingly, there has been some reduction in product attachment for used vehicles.

轉向糧安委。我們繼續引領客戶金融服務行業，以增加產品——專注於產品滲透。我們在結構上改變了我們的 CFS PVR，我們繼續平均每輛車 2 個產品。新車的產品附件保持穩定或不足為奇，二手車的產品附件有所減少。

On the finance side, which represents about 30% of our total CFS business, penetration is lower than a year ago, but increased marginally from late last year.

在金融方面，約占我們 CFS 業務總量的 30%，滲透率低於一年前，但比去年年底略有增加。

For After-Sales, we have been consistently growing in this high margin business. Gross profit was a record $511 million, up 11% from the first quarter last year. This was fueled by Customer Pay, Warranty and Collision as we've been able to overcome the decrease in late-model vehicle park and we remained focused on expanding our technician workforce and serving more customers.

對於售後，我們在這個高利潤業務中一直在持續增長。毛利潤達到創紀錄的 5.11 億美元，比去年第一季度增長 11%。這是由客戶支付、保修和碰撞所推動的，因為我們已經能夠克服新型停車場的減少，並且我們仍然專注於擴大我們的技術人員隊伍並為更多客戶提供服務。

And finally, for cash flow and capital allocation. For the quarter, we generated significant cash flow with cash from operations of more than $500 million. This strong cash flow generation combined with the strength of our balance sheet allow us to continue to invest to change our business for the long term, make investments in our core operations and return capital to shareholders through share repurchase.

最後，現金流和資本配置。本季度，我們產生了大量現金流，運營現金超過 5 億美元。這種強勁的現金流產生加上我們資產負債表的實力，使我們能夠繼續投資以長期改變我們的業務，對我們的核心業務進行投資，並通過股票回購向股東返還資本。

During the first quarter, we invested more than $300 million to repurchase a total of 2.4 million shares. I think when you look at the shape and the performance of our business in this quarter, and in fact, recent prior periods, it's increasingly evident that the structural changes that we have made to AutoNation during a time when the supply and demand economics have been a tailwind for our operation will have a lasting and meaningful impact on a go-forward basis on how to drive shareholder value and returns regardless of what cyclicality we may face.

第一季度，我們投資超過 3 億美元回購了總計 240 萬股股票。我認為，當您查看本季度我們業務的形態和表現時，事實上，最近幾個時期，越來越明顯的是，我們在供需經濟學一直處於困境的時期對 AutoNation 進行的結構性變化無論我們可能面臨什麼樣的周期性，我們運營的順風將對如何推動股東價值和回報產生持久而有意義的影響。

And just before turning the call over to Joe, I would like to provide some color on where AutoNation is heading in our channels for growth. I think we've been intentional looking at areas we can expand and grow to meet the transportation need of our 11 million customers in their households as we seek a deeper, more frequent relationship for a longer period of time, which builds on AutoNation's very strong core business, utilizing our brand and our significant footprint.

在將電話轉給喬之前，我想就 AutoNation 在我們的增長渠道中的發展方向提供一些顏色。我認為我們一直在有意識地尋找我們可以擴展和發展的領域，以滿足我們 1100 萬家庭客戶的交通需求，因為我們尋求更深入、更頻繁的長期關係，這建立在 AutoNation 非常強大的基礎上核心業務，利用我們的品牌和我們的重要足跡。

In many ways, this represents a change of mindset within the company. The approach is centered on the broadening of our customers and the nearly 10 million households we serve. During the first quarter, we brought on nearly 100,000 new households and we're focused on enhancing our relationships with active customers and reactivating lapsed customers. We've taken a number of actions to extend the value creation of our core business by increasing the depth and breadth of our product and service offerings while providing a convenient, trusted and transparent customer experience. These include our digital efforts and the investment in TrueCar, the acquisition of CIG and creation of AN Finance and the acquisition of RepairSmith which extends the reach and brand of our After-Sales business.

在許多方面，這代表了公司內部觀念的轉變。該方法的核心是擴大我們的客戶和我們服務的近 1000 萬個家庭。第一季度，我們新增了近 100,000 個家庭，我們專注於加強與活躍客戶的關係並重新激活流失的客戶。我們採取了一系列行動，通過增加我們產品和服務的深度和廣度，同時提供方便、可信和透明的客戶體驗，來擴大我們核心業務的價值創造。其中包括我們的數字化努力和對 TrueCar 的投資、對 CIG 的收購和 AN Finance 的創建以及對 RepairSmith 的收購，這擴大了我們售後業務的範圍和品牌。

As we've said, these acquisitions will not have a material impact on our near-term results, but have put in place critical pieces for our future. We're pleased with the effectiveness of AN Finance and its ability to compete with other financial institutions and meeting our customer needs. We have great relationships with existing lenders, and we'll continue to work with them. As we've said, it will be a slow expansion for AN Finance as it earns its business with its customers.

正如我們所說，這些收購不會對我們的近期業績產生重大影響，但為我們的未來奠定了重要基礎。我們對 AN Finance 的有效性及其與其他金融機構競爭和滿足我們客戶需求的能力感到滿意。我們與現有貸方關係良好，我們將繼續與他們合作。正如我們所說，隨著 AN Finance 與客戶建立業務，這將是一個緩慢的擴張。

For RepairSmith, we're in the very early days, having acquired them earlier in the first quarter. It will take time for the business to obtain meaningful scale and scope, but we expect it will thrive new AutoNation ecosystem. Both of these acquired businesses are additive and are not substitutional for our business and we will take a measured approach as we work for sustainable profitable growth. The expansion of offerings built on some of the step changes we have made to the business, which includes our continued expansion into used vehicles through AN USA which is now at 15 stores, our continued growth in After-Sales and our continued growth and focus in CFS to industry-leading PVRs. Over time, we expect our actions will garner a larger share of wallet from consumers, thereby reducing our relative exposure to the more cyclical parts of the business, namely new auto sales.

對於 RepairSmith，我們處於早期階段，在第一季度早些時候收購了它們。業務獲得有意義的規模和範圍需要時間，但我們預計它將蓬勃發展新的 AutoNation 生態系統。這兩項收購的業務都是附加的，不能替代我們的業務，我們將採取審慎的方法，努力實現可持續的盈利增長。產品的擴展建立在我們對業務所做的一些逐步改變的基礎上，其中包括我們通過 AN USA 繼續擴展到二手車，現在有 15 家商店，我們在售後方面的持續增長以及我們的持續增長和專注於CFS 到行業領先的 PVR。隨著時間的推移，我們預計我們的行動將從消費者那裡獲得更大的錢包份額，從而減少我們對業務中更具週期性的部分（即新車銷售）的相對敞口。

Now I'll turn the call over to Joe, who's going to take you through the financials in greater detail. Joe?

現在我會把電話轉給喬，他會帶你更詳細地了解財務狀況。喬？

Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everybody. I'm also going to start with the bottom line and then work back through the pieces of our performance for the quarter. I am also pleased to report that we generated record first quarter EPS of $6.07 per share, an increase of 5% versus the prior year. As Mike said, this was driven by robust margins, strong After-Sales growth, disciplined expense management and our balanced capital deployment strategy overcame lower unit sales of both new and used vehicles.

謝謝邁克，大家早上好。我還將從底線開始，然後回顧我們本季度的表現。我也很高興地報告，我們創造了創紀錄的第一季度每股收益 6.07 美元，比去年同期增長 5%。正如邁克所說，這是由強勁的利潤率、強勁的售後增長、嚴格的費用管理和我們平衡的資本部署戰略所推動的，克服了新車和二手車單位銷量的下降。

Starting at the top of the P&L, we reported first quarter total revenue of $6.4 billion, a decrease of 5% year-over-year driven by lower units sold more than offsetting continued growth of After-Sales. Our New Unit sales decreased by 2% in the quarter, which was in line with the industry when adjusted for brand mix, as Mike mentioned earlier.

從損益表的頂部開始，我們報告第一季度總收入為 64 億美元，同比下降 5%，這是由於銷量下降抵消了售後的持續增長。正如 Mike 之前提到的，本季度我們的新單位銷售額下降了 2%，這在根據品牌組合進行調整後與行業一致。

New vehicle PVR margins remained above $5,200 but have moderated from prior peaks. Inventory for new vehicles increased to 25 days on average with a wide dispersion by brand and model. The overall new vehicle market remained healthy during the quarter, as approximately 45% of our vehicles were sold at MSRP. This continues to be far higher percentage than pre-pandemic levels.

新車 PVR 利潤率保持在 5,200 美元以上，但已從之前的峰值回落。新車庫存平均增加至 25 天，品牌和型號差異較大。本季度整體新車市場保持健康，我們約有 45% 的車輛以廠商建議零售價售出。這仍然比大流行前的水平高得多。

Our total used vehicle gross profit increased by 13% from a year ago to a first quarter record of $154 million as strong margins with PVRs exceeding $2,100 more than offset lower unit sales. As Mike mentioned, in the first quarter of last year, we realigned our inventory, resulting in unit sales of nearly 80,000 units and PVRs in the mid $1,500 range for context. We continue to enhance our used vehicle economics through effective self sourcing, which remains around 90% as well as efficient reconditioning and pricing.

我們的二手車總毛利比去年同期增長 13%，達到創紀錄的第一季度 1.54 億美元，這是因為 PVR 超過 2,100 美元的強勁利潤抵消了單位銷售額的下降。正如 Mike 提到的那樣，在去年第一季度，我們重新調整了庫存，導致單位銷售額接近 80,000 台，PVR 的價格在 1,500 美元左右。我們繼續通過有效的自我採購（保持在 90% 左右）以及高效的翻新和定價來提高二手車的經濟性。

After-Sales gross profit grew 11% year-over-year as we continue to drive strong performance in this area of our business. Customer Pay, Warranty and Collision all grew year-over-year in the mid-teens. The recurring revenue stream from After-Sales continues to grow with 2022 full year annual gross profit up more than $275 million since 2019. CFS performance also remained robust, and we continue to lead the sector with PVRs consistently above $2,700.

隨著我們繼續推動這一業務領域的強勁表現，售後毛利同比增長 11%。客戶支付、保修和碰撞在十幾歲時都同比增長。售後的經常性收入流繼續增長，2022 年全年毛利潤自 2019 年以來增長超過 2.75 億美元。CFS 的表現也保持強勁，我們繼續以 PVR 始終高於 2,700 美元的價格領先該行業。

Moving to costs. SG&A as a percentage of gross was 60.8% for the quarter, remaining significantly below pre-pandemic levels, reflecting permanent structural changes to our cost basis. As expected, SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was slightly higher than recent periods, reflecting investments in technology and new business initiatives to better position us for the future, as Mike highlighted earlier in his remarks.

轉向成本。本季度 SG&A 佔總收入的百分比為 60.8%，仍遠低於大流行前的水平，反映出我們成本基礎的永久性結構變化。正如預期的那樣，SG&A 佔毛利潤的百分比略高於最近幾個時期，這反映了對技術和新業務計劃的投資，以使我們更好地為未來做好準備，正如 Mike 在他早些時候的講話中強調的那樣。

First quarter floorplan interest expense of $27 million was impacted by both higher rates and increased inventory levels. The quarterly expense increased from $20 million in the fourth quarter and $5 million a year ago. This all culminated into net income for the first quarter of $289 million or a record $6.07 per share.

第一季度 2700 萬美元的平面圖利息支出受到更高利率和更高庫存水平的影響。季度支出從第四季度的 2000 萬美元和一年前的 500 萬美元增加。這一切最終導致第一季度的淨收入達到 2.89 億美元，即創紀錄的每股 6.07 美元。

Our operating performance and cash flow generation remained very strong with cash from operations totaling more than $0.5 billion for the quarter. This consistent cash flow generation, combined with the strength of our balance sheet, provides us with significant capacity to deploy capital into our business and return capital to our shareholders.

我們的經營業績和現金流產生仍然非常強勁，本季度經營現金總額超過 5 億美元。這種穩定的現金流產生，加上我們資產負債表的實力，為我們提供了將資本部署到我們的業務並將資本返還給股東的強大能力。

During the quarter, we invested approximately $285 million in our business operations including the acquisition of RepairSmith and $95 million of capital expenditures. We also continue to expand our AutoNation USA footprint, adding locations in Austin and Albuquerque during the quarter bringing the current store count to 15.

本季度，我們在業務運營方面投資了約 2.85 億美元，包括收購 RepairSmith 和 9500 萬美元的資本支出。我們還繼續擴大我們在美國 AutoNation 的足跡，在本季度增加了奧斯汀和阿爾伯克基的門店，使目前的門店數量達到 15 家。

As Mike mentioned, the AutoNation USA stores play an integral part of both our long-term growth plans and the achievement of scale, scope and density in our markets to better serve and meet the needs of our customers. Returning capital to shareholders via share repurchase remained significant. During the quarter, we invested $305 million, reducing our share count by 2.4 million shares or 5% in the quarter. We have approximately $875 million of remaining authority for share repurchase.

正如邁克提到的那樣，AutoNation USA 商店在我們的長期增長計劃和實現市場規模、範圍和密度方面發揮著不可或缺的作用，以更好地服務和滿足客戶的需求。通過股票回購向股東返還資本仍然很重要。本季度，我們投資了 3.05 億美元，本季度我們的股份數量減少了 240 萬股或 5%。我們還有大約 8.75 億美元的剩餘股份回購權。

Finally, we ended the first quarter with total liquidity of approximately $1.6 billion. Our covenant leverage ratio of debt-to-EBITDA of 1.8x remains well below our historical 2x to 3x range. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on operational excellence, and disciplined capital allocation to fuel growth and drive long-term shareholder value.

最後，我們在第一季度末的總流動資金約為 16 億美元。我們 1.8 倍的債務與 EBITDA 契約槓桿比率仍遠低於我們歷史上 2 至 3 倍的範圍。展望未來，我們將繼續專注於卓越運營和嚴格的資本配置，以推動增長並推動長期股東價值。

With that, I will turn the call back over to Mike.

有了這個，我會把電話轉回給邁克。

Yes. Thanks, Joe. Before taking the questions, I really would like to take the opportunity to thank our more than 24,000 associates who help deliver, I think, a wonderful customer experience every day. In my mind, it's very clear since I was fortunate enough to join this organization that this is really a company of values. And one of those important values is the Drive Pink initiative. I think it's absolutely fundamental and really sits firmly at the center of our corporate culture.

是的。謝謝，喬。在回答問題之前，我真的很想藉此機會感謝我們的 24,000 多名員工，我認為他們每天都在幫助提供美妙的客戶體驗。在我看來，自從我有幸加入這個組織以來，我很清楚這確實是一家有價值的公司。這些重要的價值觀之一就是 Drive Pink 倡議。我認為這絕對是最基本的，而且確實是我們企業文化的核心。

And Marc Cannon and his team and all of the associates that get involved on their own time, on their own volition, I think, has done an amazing job and have now raised more than $37 million to help drive out cancer. And if you want to know anything about AutoNation, then that's an important thing to know. So thank you, Mark. Thank you, all of the colleagues again involved in that, and thanks to everybody for helping us navigate in Q1.

Marc Cannon 和他的團隊以及所有在業餘時間自願參與的同事，我認為，他們做了一項了不起的工作，現在已經籌集了超過 3700 萬美元來幫助驅除癌症。如果您想了解有關 AutoNation 的任何信息，那麼了解這一點很重要。謝謝你，馬克。謝謝所有再次參與其中的同事，並感謝大家幫助我們在第一季度導航。

And with that, we'll open up for questions, Derek. Thank you.

有了這個，我們將公開提問，德里克。謝謝。

Yes, Brika, you can open up the line for questions, that would be great.

是的，Brika，你可以打開問題熱線，那太好了。

(Operator Instructions) We have the first question on the phone lines from John Murphy of Bank of America.

（操作員說明）美國銀行的約翰·墨菲 (John Murphy) 在電話線上收到了第一個問題。

Just a first quick one on SG&A. I mean, obviously, grosses may move around and there are some market dynamics that are outside of your control, but you definitely control SG&A. So just curious if we saw -- we try to kind of come with a rule of thumb, if we saw gross drop by 100, what would be sort of the natural flow-through on SG&A without any actions taking, meaning how much of sales comp or variable comp. And I know it might depend through the segments. And then Mike, also, what kind of actions would you take on top of sort of that natural flow through to reduce SG&A if grosses did come down?

只是關於 SG&A 的第一個快速報告。我的意思是，很明顯，總收入可能會變動，有些市場動態不在您的控制範圍內，但您絕對可以控制 SG&A。所以很好奇我們是否看到了——我們嘗試根據經驗法則，如果我們看到總下降 100，那麼在不採取任何行動的情況下，SG&A 的自然流量是多少，這意味著銷售額有多少補償或可變補償。我知道這可能取決於細分市場。然後邁克，如果總收入確實下降，除了自然流動之外，你會採取什麼樣的行動來減少 SG&A？

Good question, John. I'll take that one given my focus on SG&A, all our substances. So the quick answer is the flow-through -- round numbers is about a 70% flow-through. That's been kind of a historic rule of thumb. But I would tell you, as we look at the business and the way it has transformed pre-pandemic to now, I think there's some more fundamental things. If you go back as an example, compensation used to be 45%, 46% of gross. That's coming down at 40%. And I think that is the type of benchmark that we'll continue to monitor as we look at how we can be consistently more efficient both in the stores and in the operations.

好問題，約翰。鑑於我專注於 SG&A，我們所有的物質，我會接受那個。所以快速的答案是流量——整數大約是 70% 的流量。這是一種歷史性的經驗法則。但我會告訴你，當我們審視業務及其從大流行前到現在的轉變方式時，我認為還有一些更基本的事情。如果你回去舉個例子，補償過去是45%，毛的46%。這下降了 40%。而且我認為這是我們將繼續監控的基準類型，因為我們會研究如何在商店和運營中始終如一地提高效率。

Advertising has been kind of historically 6%, and we've driven that down to 3% to 4%. And then overhead, historically, it was kind of about 20%, and we're now operating at kind of 15% to 16%. And I think we are going to continue to aggressively manage the business, aggressively manage the cost while we're also making investments in the business, which we've talked about. So that's kind of the numbers it will give you kind of -- Mike will give you kind of a broader perspective.

廣告在歷史上一直是 6%，我們已經將其降低到 3% 到 4%。然後是間接費用，從歷史上看，它大約是 20%，而我們現在的運營率大約是 15% 到 16%。而且我認為我們將繼續積極管理業務，積極管理成本，同時我們也在對業務進行投資，我們已經談到了這一點。所以這就是它會給你的數字——邁克會給你更廣闊的視野。

Yes. I think that's a pretty good job, actually, but just to add on that, I mean one of the things that we've talked about in the past, if you look at the ratio between what is fixed structurally in our business and what is actually variable as a result of gross, we're very high on a variable level. So to some extent, in the initial part of the downturn, we get natural protection from that. And the balance that we look at, obviously, is productivity within the business.

是的。實際上，我認為這是一項相當不錯的工作，但補充一點，我指的是我們過去討論過的事情之一，如果你看看我們業務中結構固定的東西與結構固定的東西之間的比率實際上，由於總的變化，我們在可變水平上非常高。因此，在某種程度上，在經濟低迷的初期，我們自然會受到保護。顯然，我們所看到的平衡是企業內部的生產力。

But it would be naive to think that there's not a floor where we need to maintain a level of customer service, a level of responsiveness to our customers and indeed make sure our people have the right level of resources. And at the end of the day, when you reach that, I think you have to very much recognize it's a cyclical business and recovers pretty quickly after a downturn. So from my point of view, very fortunate to have Joe and the team look at it on a daily basis, and it's self moderating down to a point. We understand where that floor may well be but we're not prepared to sacrifice in the very short term, our ability not just to recover if markets recover, but also to provide our service with customer at the customer levels of handling they expect to continue to drive our loyalty up.

但是，如果認為我們不需要維持一定水平的客戶服務、對客戶的響應水平並確實確保我們的員工擁有適當水平的資源，那就太天真了。歸根結底，當你達到這一點時，我認為你必須非常認識到這是一項週期性業務，在經濟低迷後會很快恢復。所以從我的角度來看，很幸運讓喬和團隊每天都在看它，它正在自我調節到一定程度。我們知道底線可能在哪裡，但我們不准備在短期內犧牲，我們不僅有能力在市場復甦時恢復，而且還能在客戶期望繼續處理的客戶水平上為客戶提供我們的服務來提高我們的忠誠度。

So hopefully, with Joe's more thoughtful answer and my battling, you've got what you want, John.

因此，希望通過喬更深思熟慮的回答和我的努力，你已經得到了你想要的，約翰。

That's incredibly helpful. And then just on After-Sales, obviously, a real good guy in the quarter, outperforming. I'm just curious if you were limited by tech availability or if you were able to attract a lot more techs to drive that? I mean what's the status of your capacity utilization in your base and then also your manned capacity? And how should we think about potential upside over there? Is this really just constrained by tech availability.

這非常有幫助。然後就在售後方面，顯然，這是本季度真正的好人，表現出色。我只是好奇你是否受到技術可用性的限制，或者你是否能夠吸引更多的技術來推動它？我的意思是你們基地的產能利用率以及載人能力的狀況如何？我們應該如何考慮那裡的潛在上行空間？這真的只是受技術可用性的限制嗎？

Yes. I think I've been very pleased with the work that everyone has been doing in this area. So if you look at the total opportunity, whether it's accessible or not, John, there's no doubt that you're constrained by tech availability. But the reality is most retail dealerships operate at about 40% to 50% penetration in the vehicle parts they are responsible for. And I think most people have staffed up to that with the release of being lead times. We're very much focused on driving those lead times down in conjunction with our OEM partners. And we're very much focused on improving our penetration in the vehicle parts that we're responsible for.

是的。我想我對每個人在該領域所做的工作感到非常滿意。因此，如果您查看全部機會，無論是否可訪問，約翰，毫無疑問您會受到技術可用性的限制。但現實情況是，大多數零售經銷商在他們負責的汽車零部件中的滲透率約為 40% 至 50%。而且我認為大多數人都在發布交貨時間時配備了人員。我們非常專注於與我們的 OEM 合作夥伴一起縮短這些交貨時間。我們非常專注於提高我們在我們負責的汽車零部件中的滲透率。

So on that basis, I would say, yes, we're constrained. No more constrained than our competitors, but I think maybe our aspirations may be different, I don't know. But we are continuing to recruit. We're also working very hard on retention because, as you know, that's a very thought after labor force. And there has always been, in my experience, a lot of attrition in that area. So we're working hard on not just recruiting more people, but providing a great career path and development for them and work on the retention side. So I think the growth that we have got is a reflection of all of that.

因此，在此基礎上，我會說，是的，我們受到了限制。沒有比我們的競爭對手更多的限制，但我想也許我們的願望可能不同，我不知道。但我們仍在繼續招聘。我們也在努力留住人才，因為正如你所知，這是勞動力之後的一個非常重要的想法。根據我的經驗，該領域一直存在大量人員流失。因此，我們正在努力工作，不僅要招募更多的人，還要為他們提供良好的職業道路和發展，並努力留住人才。所以我認為我們取得的增長反映了所有這些。

Mike, I'm sorry, just one follow-up on that. You said something very interesting that you're only getting to 45% to 50% penetration of really your installed base or what you think you can get at. I mean, do you think you could ultimately get to 100%? Or is that going to be really difficult and we should be thinking about something lower than that. I mean we're on the spectrum of that 40% to 50% to 100%. Do you think you may ultimately be able to get to?

邁克，我很抱歉，只有一個跟進。你說了一些非常有趣的話，你只能達到 45% 到 50% 的實際安裝基礎或你認為你可以達到的滲透率。我的意思是，你認為你最終能達到 100% 嗎？或者這真的很困難，我們應該考慮比這更低的事情。我的意思是我們處於 40% 到 50% 到 100% 的範圍內。你認為你最終能到達嗎？

Yes, this might as well...

是的，這還不如……

In a perfect world of techs that are available.

在可用技術的完美世界中。

Yes, yes. It may well fall into opening Pandora's box, John. Well, the answer to -- I accept that. Thank you. The answer is you're never going to get to 100% because when -- first, you got to understand what age of vehicle park are you looking at and typically look between a 7- and 10-year vehicle park. Post that, people are looking for different solutions than franchise businesses, as you know. And they also -- the other big impact on retention is drive time to the dealership. Once you get beyond the 15 miles -- when we use miles rather than time -- drive time to the dealership, you see a significant display in penetration, which is one of the reasons why RepairSmith for us is very, very interesting because, of course, they remove that reason for people to find a different solution.

是的是的。它很可能落入打開潘多拉魔盒，約翰。嗯，答案——我接受。謝謝。答案是你永遠不會達到 100%，因為當 - 首先，你必須了解你正在查看的停車場的年齡，並且通常會查看 7 到 10 年的停車場。在那之後，正如您所知，人們正在尋找與特許經營業務不同的解決方案。而且他們還 - 對保留的另一個重大影響是開車到經銷商處的時間。一旦你超過 15 英里——當我們使用英里而不是時間——開車到經銷商處時，你會看到顯著的滲透率顯示，這就是 RepairSmith 對我們來說非常非常有趣的原因之一，因為，當然，他們消除了人們尋找不同解決方案的原因。

So you will never get 100%. It's not just us at 40% to 50%. My guess is that that's a typical kind of number that you would hear. I think there's opportunity for us to grow that number but deploying not just improvements in availability, our dealerships, but other initiatives to help provide convenient service at the right cost equation for customers.

所以你永遠不會得到 100%。不僅僅是我們有 40% 到 50%。我猜這是您會聽到的典型數字。我認為我們有機會增加這個數字，但不僅要提高可用性、我們的經銷商，還要採取其他舉措，以幫助以合適的成本為客戶提供便捷的服務。

But it's safe to say there's a huge structural opportunity. We're not looking at something that's cyclical here. It's a matter of getting the capacity in the human capital to address this that should drive same-store sale comps going forward, whether it be RepairSmith or some other actual techs. Is that a fair statement?

但可以肯定地說，存在巨大的結構性機會。我們在這裡看的不是周期性的東西。這是一個讓人力資本有能力解決這個問題的問題，這應該會推動同店銷售業績向前發展，無論是 RepairSmith 還是其他一些實際技術人員。這是一個公平的說法嗎？

Yes.

是的。

We now have Daniel Imbro of Stephens, Inc.

我們現在有來自 Stephens, Inc. 的 Daniel Imbro。

This is Joe Enderlin on for Daniel. Looking at huge GPU that came in ahead of our expectation. How would you attribute the sequential gain there to the increase in wholesale pricing during the quarter? And then as you look forward, what would be your expectation for trajectory there? Is that something that would allow you to hold on to GPU more than you initially thought?

這是丹尼爾的喬恩德林。查看超出我們預期的巨大 GPU。您如何將那裡的連續收益歸因於本季度批發價格的上漲？然後當你展望未來時，你對那裡的軌蹟有何期望？這是否能讓您比最初想像的更堅持使用 GPU？

Yes. Thanks, Joe. I think as always, there is a lot of combination of things that contribute to it. I think for us, one of the things is that you never got the supply and demand dynamics on used that you have with new, as you know, for very obvious reasons. But when -- as we thought about our used vehicle inventory and our approach, what we really wanted to do is make sure that we maximize the inventory that we had. And with that, it means that we were even more diligent, I think, in terms of pricing.

是的。謝謝，喬。我一如既往地認為，有很多因素的組合促成了它。我認為對我們來說，其中一件事是，由於非常明顯的原因，你從來沒有像新的那樣獲得二手的供需動態。但是當 - 當我們考慮我們的二手車庫存和我們的方法時，我們真正想做的是確保我們最大化我們擁有的庫存。因此，我認為，這意味著我們在定價方面更加努力。

The other thing was for us to try and continue to improve our days to supply and our turn rates, and we were able to improve that through the quarter, and all of these things become -- all of these things become additive. And as Joe mentioned, in a year-over-year comp on this one, it was always going to be a good guide because of the work we did last year.

另一件事是我們嘗試並繼續改善我們的供應天數和周轉率，我們能夠在整個季度內改善這一點，所有這些事情都變成了——所有這些事情都變成了累加。正如 Joe 所提到的，由於我們去年所做的工作，在這一年的年度比較中，它始終是一個很好的指南。

How much of it is structural in this market. I think that, as I said, in the area of vehicles that for AutoNation is the sweet spot, there will be continued constraint. We have, as you can imagine, not just accepted that, but put in place some actions and some processes to mitigate that where possible and in some areas, learned from others that have done a good job over the years as well. But add that to the discipline in terms of getting these leases to the front pricing, thinking about where the vehicle should be sold from, I think, helped and contributed to all of it, how much sticks is a great question. I anticipate some of it will stick, not all of it for sure because it's a very dynamic market at the moment.

這個市場有多少是結構性的。我認為，正如我所說，在 AutoNation 最喜歡的車輛領域，將會有持續的限制。正如你可以想像的那樣，我們不僅接受了這一點，而且採取了一些行動和一些流程來盡可能地減輕這種情況，並且在某些領域，我們從其他多年來也做得很好的人那裡學到了東西。但是，在將這些租約提前定價方面加上紀律，考慮應該從哪裡出售車輛，我認為，幫助並促成了所有這一切，多少棍子是一個很好的問題。我預計其中一些會堅持下去，但肯定不會全部堅持下去，因為目前這是一個非常活躍的市場。

That's super helpful. As a follow-up, you had a peer suggest there's a disproportionate number of fleet vehicles being transacted right now as opposed to retail. And as a result, customer incentives remain constrained. Could you provide some thoughts on this? And then in particular, how do you expect the cadence of customer incentives to trend this year?

這非常有幫助。作為後續行動，您有一位同行建議，與零售相比，目前正在交易的車隊車輛數量不成比例。因此，客戶激勵措施仍然受到限制。你能就此提供一些想法嗎？然後特別是，您預計今年客戶激勵的節奏趨勢如何？

Yes. I mean unlike the previous recessions where all markets were being served with plenty of supply, and it was pure demand. The fleet market obviously has been [staffed] with supply during this period as the OEMs have prioritized their retail channels. So I think as OEMs are beginning to return, they're obviously looking at their margin and they have made the decision, I think to do 2 things. One is to give their fleet customers, which are very important to OEMs, the vehicles that they've been asking for, for some time, so you naturally see a spike. And then second, we look at their performance in the broader marketplace. I don't think it's an unusual phenomenon.

是的。我的意思是，不像以前的經濟衰退那樣，所有市場都有充足的供應，而且是純需求。由於原始設備製造商優先考慮其零售渠道，車隊市場在此期間顯然已經[配備]供應。所以我認為隨著原始設備製造商開始回歸，他們顯然正在考慮他們的利潤率並且他們做出了決定，我認為要做兩件事。一是為他們的車隊客戶提供他們一直要求的車輛，這對原始設備製造商來說非常重要，有一段時間了，所以你自然會看到一個峰值。其次，我們看看他們在更廣闊市場上的表現。我不認為這是一個不尋常的現象。

So from an incentive point of view, we all know incentives are still significantly lower. I think there are some brands that will have to progressively increase their incentives to drive net price position down in the marketplace if they're going to maintain or even slightly grow market share. And one of the things that I think aggressively will happen is leasing business will begin to return. I think it's around 15% or 16% at the moment. It's about 30%, 32%, 33%, something like that in normal times. So as we go through the year, I think if the residual demand out there remains where it is, you're going to see OEMs progressively, I think, adjust their net price position so that they can balance that production, the fleet demand and their need to maintain retail market share.

所以從激勵的角度來看，我們都知道激勵仍然要低得多。我認為有些品牌如果要保持甚至略微增加市場份額，就必須逐步增加激勵措施以降低市場淨價地位。我認為積極發生的事情之一是租賃業務將開始回歸。我認為目前約為 15% 或 16%。大約是30%、32%、33%，平時差不多。因此，隨著我們度過這一年，我認為如果剩餘需求保持不變，我認為你會看到原始設備製造商逐步調整他們的淨價位，以便他們能夠平衡生產、車隊需求和他們需要保持零售市場份額。

We now have Bret Jordan of Jefferies.

我們現在有 Jefferies 的 Bret Jordan。

A couple of questions on the new business initiatives. RepairSmith, I guess, was it incremental to the parts and service business? And then I guess within parts and service, if you could break out what was ticket versus traffic?

關於新業務計劃的幾個問題。 RepairSmith，我猜，它是零件和服務業務的增量嗎？然後我想在零件和服務中，如果你能打破什麼是門票與流量？

Yes. I mean, as we've said, RepairSmith is not substitutional for our business, since it's very much additive. The other thing that, for us, we recognize with our AN USA expansion as we also wanted to provide our AutoNation USA customers with a very tailored, specific convenient After-Sales service provision, which none of the stand-alone used car businesses really have been able to do. And therefore, RepairSmith effectively becomes AN USA's After-Sales division, giving Dave and the team, what I think could be a fairly significant USP in the marketplace. So I'm pleased about that.

是的。我的意思是，正如我們所說，RepairSmith 不能替代我們的業務，因為它具有很強的附加性。另一件事，對我們來說，我們認識到我們在 AN USA 的擴張，因為我們還想為我們的 AutoNation USA 客戶提供非常量身定制的、特定的、方便的售後服務，這是獨立的二手車企業所沒有的能夠做到。因此，RepairSmith 實際上成為了 AN USA 的售後部門，為 Dave 和團隊提供了我認為在市場上相當重要的 USP。所以我很高興。

And the good news is, as we've said, both with AutoNation Finance and Joe reached out with RepairSmith, our approaches to deliberately grow these businesses in the same way that we are growing deliberately AutoNation USA. So very much additive. I think it's very much now an USP for AutoNation USA and expecting the team to be able to use that effectively in the marketplace. In terms of -- go ahead.

正如我們所說，好消息是，AutoNation Finance 和 Joe 都與 RepairSmith 取得了聯繫，我們有意發展這些業務的方法與我們有意發展 AutoNation USA 的方式相同。非常多的添加劑。我認為它現在非常適合 AutoNation USA 的 USP，並希望團隊能夠在市場上有效地使用它。在 - 繼續。

No, I was going to say is RepairSmith geographically restricted in the sense that it's an outdoor work or remote work? Are you stuck -- are you mostly Southern markets? Or is it harder to staff for that model because technicians prefer to work indoors? Or how does that -- what's the potential rollout for it?

不，我想說的是 RepairSmith 在戶外工作或遠程工作方面是否受地域限制？你被困住了——你主要是南方市場嗎？還是因為技術人員更喜歡在室內工作而更難為該模型配備人員？或者那是怎麼做到的——它的潛在推出是什麼？

It's interesting because as we started to look at this more and more, I think my going-in assumption is exactly that, which for us, if you think about our footprint, not really a huge issue. But the reality is, as I get in the business more during the diligence phase and actually understood the way that they work, there are so many different ways that they address the extreme cold climates and their rollout plan really was not necessarily driven by -- does it snow a lot or is the temperature dropped dramatically in these areas because as they've been able to prove many of the things that they do can be done in multistory car park, for example, within garages at different places as well.

這很有趣，因為當我們開始越來越多地關注這個問題時，我認為我的假設就是這樣，如果你考慮我們的足跡，這對我們來說並不是一個大問題。但現實是，隨著我在盡職調查階段更多地參與業務並真正了解他們的工作方式，他們有很多不同的方法來應對極端寒冷的氣候，他們的推出計劃實際上不一定是由 -這些地區下雪很多還是溫度急劇下降，因為他們已經能夠證明他們所做的許多事情可以在多層停車場內完成，例如，在不同地方的車庫內。

So I would think it'd be completely unfair for me to say there isn't an impact and you're completely right. Technicians prefer to work indoors particularly during the extreme cold and heat. But there are benefits that come to the technicians in the model in terms of the way they manage their day, their autonomy, the way they think about growing their own business to own territory. So as always, there's pros and cons to the model. But I would say they're not hampered necessarily by that. But obviously, what we're focusing on is how we can densify our existing footprint to maximize the efficiency of our businesses and provide a complete range of services to customers that we have built up over the last 2 decades of being one of the most progressive automotive retailers in the country.

所以我認為我說沒有影響是完全不公平的，而你是完全正確的。技術人員更喜歡在室內工作，尤其是在極冷和極熱的時候。但是，模型中的技術人員在管理日常工作的方式、他們的自主權以及他們考慮將自己的業務發展到自己的領域的方式方面也有好處。因此，與往常一樣，該模型有利有弊。但我會說他們不一定因此而受到阻礙。但很明顯，我們關注的是如何加強我們現有的足跡，以最大限度地提高我們的業務效率，並為我們在過去 20 年中作為最先進的企業之一建立起來的客戶提供全方位的服務該國的汽車零售商。

Okay. And then one last quick one. CIG, was it incremental to F&I or was the volume relatively small and an offset to somebody else's loan revenues?

好的。然後是最後一個快速的。 CIG，它是 F&I 的增量還是數量相對較小並且抵消了其他人的貸款收入？

So firstly, we -- as we say, we're really aligning CIG's growth in our AutoNation finances growth alongside AutoNation USA, and I can tell you they're integrated phenomenally. We're very pleased with that.

因此，首先，我們——正如我們所說，我們確實將 CIG 在我們的 AutoNation 財務增長中與 AutoNation USA 的增長保持一致，我可以告訴你它們是驚人的整合。我們對此非常滿意。

The model that we set up, frankly, was one where there was no right for business because what I didn't want to do -- what we didn't want to do was just say, "Hey, we've got the finance company, now you have to use it" because I think they have to remain very competitive. They have to understand that there is no right to them getting the business for us. So response times and look to book all of the normal things you would expect.

坦率地說，我們建立的模型是一種沒有商業權利的模型，因為我不想做的——我們不想做的只是說，“嘿，我們有資金公司，現在你必須使用它”，因為我認為他們必須保持非常有競爭力。他們必須明白，他們無權為我們獲得業務。所以響應時間和期待預訂您期望的所有正常事情。

They have displaced some -- obviously, that displaced volume because if you -- our finance penetration, as Joe said, is broadly on new vehicles is the same. I'll use it for this slightly down, as you may expect, because there has been some reduction in deep subprime and subprime, so they have displaced some volume with other providers. But all in all, I think what we've got now is a great competitive marketplace, and they're a competing player in that.

他們已經取代了一些 - 顯然，因為如果你 - 我們的金融滲透率，正如喬所說，在新車上的廣泛滲透是相同的。正如您所料，我會用它來稍微降低一點，因為深度次級抵押貸款和次級抵押貸款有所減少，所以他們已經與其他供應商取代了一些數量。但總而言之，我認為我們現在擁有的是一個競爭激烈的市場，而他們是其中的競爭者。

We now have Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley.

我們現在有摩根士丹利的亞當喬納斯。

Your comment about 45% of volume being done at MSRP and that being lower than others. I'd just be curious if you could add a bit of detail around the trend. Where was that number a year ago, maybe where was it at the start of the year? Where is it trending? I don't know if there was any other detail about your price -- your average price versus MSRP, but I don't want to get too greedy. And then a follow-up, you guys had made a big initiative on seeding a captive finance operation also through M&A. I'm curious if your path of growth there or the way you would fund that or grow that may be changing given some of the changes in the credit environment.

你對 45% 的銷量在 MSRP 上完成的評論低於其他人。我很好奇你是否可以添加一些關於趨勢的細節。一年前的那個數字在哪裡，也許年初的時候在哪裡？它在哪裡流行？我不知道是否還有關於您的價格的任何其他細節——您的平均價格與廠商建議零售價的對比，但我不想太貪心。然後是後續行動，你們也採取了一項重大舉措，通過併購來建立專屬金融業務。我很好奇，鑑於信貸環境的一些變化，你在那裡的增長路徑或你為其提供資金或增長的方式是否正在發生變化。

Yes. I would say that peak margins somewhere in the region, and Joe, you correct me there, somewhere in the region about 60% MSRP, 55%, 50% MSRP and as inventory levels have come in and as the monthly payment conditions in the marketplace have been changing with progressive rate increases, the subsidy of that net transaction price has driven us down slowly but consistently to the numbers that Joe gave you.

是的。我會說該地區某處的利潤率峰值，Joe，你糾正我，該地區某處大約 60%、55%、50% 的建議零售價，隨著庫存水平的提高以及市場上的每月付款條件一直在隨著利率的提高而變化，淨交易價格的補貼使我們緩慢但始終如一地下降到喬給你的數字。

What I would tell is an interesting dynamic because if you look at the availability of inventory across imports, domestics and luxury retail premium, obviously, they are at different stages. So what you see -- what you do see, if you're looking from our land as you do see that direct impact of availability and demand. And so some of our divisions are performing at a much higher level of sales to MSRP, some are performing at a lower level. So Joe gave you the blended average.

我要說的是一個有趣的動態，因為如果你看一下進口、國內和奢侈品零售溢價的庫存可用性，顯然，它們處於不同的階段。所以你所看到的——你所看到的，如果你從我們的土地上看，你確實看到了可用性和需求的直接影響。因此，我們的一些部門的銷售水平比 MSRP 高得多，有些部門的銷售水平較低。所以喬給了你混合平均值。

Our expectation is -- as I think everybody's expectation is as more inventory comes into the marketplace as we continue to see higher monthly payments, and that will continue to mitigate not at a dramatic shocked pace but mitigate throughout the year. That's my view, and Joe, if you could answer, firstly, if you want to qualify what I said, feel free. But if you want to answer the question on funding for AN Finance, that would be great.

我們的預期是——正如我認為每個人的預期一樣，隨著我們繼續看到更高的月付款，更多的庫存進入市場，並且這將繼續減輕，而不是以驚人的驚人速度，但全年都會減輕。這是我的觀點，Joe，如果你能回答，首先，如果你想證明我所說的話，請隨意。但是，如果您想回答有關 AN Finance 資金的問題，那就太好了。

So I'll just -- I'll really reiterate, I think what Mike said on the PVRs and it really is almost by brand by model. As Mike said, if you go back again, by brand and model, it could have been as high as 70% or 80%, and we're seeing a general trend down. But still, as you know, at a much higher than it had been historically. And I'd remind you that we really don't price above SSRP and that's continued. So I think that's another factor to continue.

所以我只是 - 我真的要重申，我認為邁克在 PVR 上所說的話，它實際上幾乎是按品牌按型號。正如 Mike 所說，如果您再次返回，按品牌和型號，它可能高達 70% 或 80%，而且我們看到總體趨勢是下降的。但是，如您所知，仍然比歷史上的水平高得多。我要提醒您，我們的價格確實不會高於 SSRP，而且這種情況還在繼續。所以我認為這是繼續的另一個因素。

As far as the funding, our -- I would tell you if we are continuing to be very opportunistic as it relates to the funding and as we've mentioned repeatedly, a very deliberate cadence on originations. We have warehouse facilities in place to provide a significant capacity. We continue to monitor closely the securitization market. It is available, but we're going to access that when it's most attractive given the other available funding vehicles we have, but strategically, our approach hasn't changed, but we're being very mindful of kind of current market conditions and utilizing our balance sheet as effectively as we can.

至於資金，我們的 - 我會告訴你我們是否繼續非常機會主義，因為它與資金有關，正如我們反复提到的那樣，在起源上有一個非常刻意的節奏。我們擁有適當的倉庫設施以提供強大的容量。我們繼續密切關注證券化市場。它是可用的，但考慮到我們擁有的其他可用融資工具，我們將在它最具吸引力時使用它，但從戰略上講，我們的方法沒有改變，但我們非常注意當前的市場狀況並利用盡可能有效地調整我們的資產負債表。

We now have our final question from Rajat Gupta of JPMorgan.

摩根大通的 Rajat Gupta 現在提出最後一個問題。

I just had a first one on capital allocation. If you can give us an update there, healthy start to the buyback here in the first quarter. How should we think about the cadence for the remainder of the year? And also, any update on your plans and pipeline for acquisitions? And relatedly, would you be willing to add more leverage to the balance sheet for more buybacks going forward? And I have a follow-up.

我剛剛有了關於資本配置的第一個。如果你能在那裡給我們一個更新，那麼第一季度這裡的回購就會健康地開始。我們應該如何考慮今年剩餘時間的節奏？此外，您的收購計劃和管道有任何更新嗎？與此相關的是，您是否願意在資產負債表上增加更多的槓桿作用，以便未來進行更多回購？我有一個後續行動。

Yes. Let me tackle with couple of questions there. Let me start first with maybe availability and capital. So we benefited, as you know, we've got some very strong free cash flow, which helps us significantly. From a leverage standpoint, we're still below 2.0. As we've said consistently, we're very comfortable in the 2x to 3x range. We're deliberate right now in being thoughtful and making sure we have capacity to be opportunistic. But as we've said repeatedly, we highly value our investment-grade rating. It provides us some strategic and financial advantages. And so we will continue to operate in that framework.

是的。讓我在那裡解決幾個問題。讓我先從可用性和資本開始。所以我們受益，正如你所知，我們有一些非常強大的自由現金流，這對我們有很大幫助。從槓桿的角度來看，我們仍低於 2.0。正如我們一貫所說，我們對 2 倍到 3 倍的範圍感到非常滿意。我們現在正在深思熟慮並確保我們有能力投機取巧。但正如我們反复說過的那樣，我們高度重視我們的投資級評級。它為我們提供了一些戰略和財務優勢。因此，我們將繼續在該框架內運作。

As it relates to deployment of capital, I would say it hasn't changed. We've always indicated that we are based on returns. We look at organic, inorganic and share repurchase really from the standpoint of returns. We have viewed AN USA as a very attractive return. And frankly, the returns have exceeded our initial expectations. We'll continue to fund that appropriately. We look very opportunistically at acquisitions those that we've been able to identify, and we feel very good about, as Mike indicated, but we maintain a discipline in this marketplace.

由於它涉及資本部署，我會說它沒有改變。我們一直表示我們基於回報。我們真正從回報的角度來看有機、無機和股票回購。我們將 AN USA 視為極具吸引力的回報。坦率地說，回報超出了我們最初的預期。我們將繼續為此提供適當的資金。我們非常機會主義地看待那些我們已經能夠確定的收購，我們感覺非常好，正如邁克所指出的那樣，但我們在這個市場上保持紀律。

And share repurchase continues to be attractive at these price levels. And so we're going to continue to have a balanced approach. It's going to shift based upon the relative opportunities, and we will use a modest level of leverage as opportunities arise, whether those are organic, inorganic or share repurchase. So kind of within those parameters, we intend to continue the path we've been on with modest shifts just based upon availability of opportunity.

在這些價格水平上，股票回購仍然具有吸引力。因此，我們將繼續採用平衡的方法。它將根據相對機會發生變化，我們將在機會出現時使用適度的槓桿，無論是有機的、無機的還是股票回購。因此，在這些參數範圍內，我們打算繼續我們一直走的道路，只是根據機會的可用性進行適度的轉變。

Understood. That's a good color. You mentioned earlier in the call in the prepared remarks that there was a slight improvement in finance penetration versus 2022 ending levels. With credit union, it is what you're hearing continuing to tighten their standards. Should we expect a further increase in penetration there? And relatedly, for F&I outside of finance, could you give us an update on how the penetration of other ancillary products have trended since the pandemic? And would you expect penetration for those also to remain sticky going forward.

明白了。這是一個很好的顏色。您早些時候在準備好的講話中提到，與 2022 年的結束水平相比，金融滲透率略有改善。對於信用合作社，您聽到的就是繼續收緊他們的標準。我們應該期望那裡的滲透率進一步增加嗎？與此相關的是，對於金融以外的 F&I，您能否向我們介紹一下自大流行以來其他輔助產品的滲透趨勢如何？你是否期望那些人的滲透率也能保持粘性。

Yes, this is Mike. As we mentioned in the opening comments are the number of products that we sell on New has been very stable. And I think that obviously speaks to the focus and the processes that we have in place. We have seen some mitigation on Used, as you may expect. It doesn't mean they're more sensitive in terms of their monthly payments. I think everybody is sensitive in terms of their monthly payments. I just think that they're more exposed to the increases in interest rates.

是的，這是邁克。正如我們在開篇評論中提到的，我們在 New 上銷售的產品數量一直非常穩定。我認為這顯然說明了我們的重點和流程。正如您所料，我們已經看到了 Used 上的一些緩解措施。這並不意味著他們對每月付款更加敏感。我認為每個人都對每月付款很敏感。我只是認為他們更容易受到利率上升的影響。

Our penetration on New -- our penetration overall remains stable. New has shown continued strength, particularly as some of the OEMs are coming back into the market with subsidized finance, obviously helps and adds another tool to the bag. On Used, as I mentioned before, from a FICO perspective, there's been a reduction in subprime and deep subprime, I expect that to continue. A lot of that is by choice, I would say. So that's how I would expect it to continue.

我們對 New 的滲透率——我們的滲透率整體保持穩定。 New 顯示出持續的實力，特別是當一些原始設備製造商通過補貼資金重返市場時，這顯然有助於並增加了另一種工具。關於二手，正如我之前提到的，從 FICO 的角度來看，次級抵押貸款和深度次級抵押貸款有所減少，我希望這種情況會繼續下去。我會說，其中很多是選擇。所以這就是我希望它繼續下去的方式。

In terms of -- is there upside, from my perspective, I think price, obviously, there's always been sensitive and at the end of the day, it comes back to that monthly payment, and that includes not just the vehicle but all the product services, warranties and everything else. And therefore, sometimes, to get to those monthly payments, you take a contribution across the whole of the services and products that you're selling to get a balanced response to what the customer needs, if it's possible. So I wouldn't imagine that there'd be significant upside on that. I think we have some great processes in place.

就-是否有上行空間，從我的角度來看，我認為價格顯然一直很敏感，最終，它又回到了每月付款，這不僅包括車輛，還包括所有產品服務、保修和其他一切。因此，有時，為了獲得這些月付款，如果可能的話，您會為您銷售的所有服務和產品做出貢獻，以平衡地響應客戶的需求。所以我不認為這會有很大的好處。我認為我們有一些很棒的流程。

There's no -- that doesn't mean to say there's not room for improvement. I think there always is. But I think to some extent, you may see some trade-off between penetration and margin in those products.

沒有——這並不意味著沒有改進的餘地。我想總是有的。但我認為在某種程度上，你可能會看到這些產品的滲透率和利潤率之間存在一些權衡。

Thank you. We have no further questions on the lines. So I'd like to hand it back to Mr. Manley for any final remarks.

謝謝。我們沒有其他問題了。所以我想把它交還給曼利先生，請他發表最後的評論。

Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. Again, thanks for your time on the call today. We appreciate it. We also appreciate the questions. And by your questions, you also give us insight on what's on your mind. And again, I'll just end by thanking all of my associates and colleagues within AutoNation. And as I said, we also, in this quarter, have been very pleased to welcome all of RepairSmith employees into our family as well. So with that, I wish you all a great day. Thank you very much for your time.

是的。好的。非常感謝。再次感謝您今天的電話會議。我們很感激。我們也很欣賞這些問題。通過你的問題，你也讓我們了解了你的想法。最後，我將再次感謝 AutoNation 內的所有同事和同事。正如我所說，在本季度，我們也非常高興地歡迎所有 RepairSmith 員工加入我們的大家庭。因此，祝大家度過愉快的一天。非常感謝您的寶貴時間。

Thank you for joining. This does conclude today's call. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a lovely day.

感謝您的加入。今天的電話會議到此結束。你現在可以斷開你的線路，並有一個美好的一天。