By Connor Hart

Genuine Parts swung to a loss in the fourth quarter despite higher sales, hurt by a large settlement charge.

The owner of NAPA auto-care centers on Tuesday posted a loss of $609 million, or $4.39 a share, compared with a profit of $133 million, or 96 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items--such as an $825 million expense tied to a settlement in connection with the termination of the company's U.S. qualified defined benefit plan--earnings were $1.55 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $1.82 a share.

Sales climbed 4.1% to $6 billion, just below the $6.06 billion that Wall Street modeled. The company attributed the increase in part to a 1.7% uptick in comparable sales, as well as recent acquisitions.

Automotive sales in North America were rose 2.4%, to $2.3 billion, and were up 6.4% internationally, at $1.5 billion. Industrial sales grew 4.6%, to $2.2 billion.

Separately, Genuine Parts said before the bell that it plans to separate its auto and industrial parts units to create two separate public companies.

Looking ahead, the company guided for full-year earnings of $6.10 to $6.60 a share, or $7.50 to $8 a share on an adjusted basis. Analysts are looking for earnings of $8.37 a share, and adjusted earnings of $8.43 a share.

Total sales are expected to grow 3% to 5.5%, compared with Wall Street models for a 3.6% increase.

Shares fell 6.5%, to $137.65, in premarket trading.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2026 08:11 ET (13:11 GMT)

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