Lithia Motors cash flow, quarter by quarter

In Q3 2026, Lithia Motors generated −$30.8M of operating cash flow and spent $98.9M on capital projects, leaving free cash flow of −$130M. That is $77.6M more than in Q3 2025 (−$207M).

Over the twelve months to Sep 30, 2026, operating cash flow was −$81.2M; the largest uses were net borrowing (+) / repaid (−) ($1.6B), buybacks ($923M), acquisitions ($734M); besides operations, cash came from other financing ($3.6B), asset & business sales ($72.2M); the cash balance fell by $44.6M.

Operating cash flow was −$30.8M against net income of $293M — -0.1× profit, less cash than reported earnings, worth checking against working capital. The largest differences: inventory −$121M, depreciation & amortization +$91.5M, accrued liabilities +$60.7M.

Its cash conversion cycle was 77 days (receivables 10 + inventory 72 − payables 5).

Lithia Motors is burning cash: its operations consume cash, a free cash flow of −$427M a year at the current rate against $108M of cash and investments: a runway of about 3 months; $134M of debt also comes due within a year, which would need refinancing or new money before any new financing.