Advance Auto Parts (AAP) Competitors

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) and AutoNation (NYSE:AN) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Does the media refer more to AAP or AN?

In the previous week, Advance Auto Parts had 3 more articles in the media than AutoNation. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Advance Auto Parts and 17 mentions for AutoNation. AutoNation's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Advance Auto Parts' score of 0.76 indicating that AutoNation is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Advance Auto Parts	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AutoNation	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, AAP or AN?

AutoNation has higher revenue and earnings than Advance Auto Parts. Advance Auto Parts is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AutoNation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advance Auto Parts	$9.09B	0.22	$29.74M	-$5.60	-6.09
AutoNation	$26.97B	0.26	$692.20M	$16.90	11.08

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AAP or AN?

88.8% of Advance Auto Parts shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of AutoNation shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Advance Auto Parts shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of AutoNation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is AAP or AN more profitable?

AutoNation has a net margin of 2.59% compared to Advance Auto Parts' net margin of 0.41%. AutoNation's return on equity of 30.48% beat Advance Auto Parts' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advance Auto Parts	0.41%	1.82%	0.38%
AutoNation	2.59%	30.48%	5.62%

Which has more volatility and risk, AAP or AN?

Advance Auto Parts has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AutoNation has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend AAP or AN?

Advance Auto Parts presently has a consensus target price of $44.50, suggesting a potential upside of 30.38%. AutoNation has a consensus target price of $200.75, suggesting a potential upside of 7.26%. Given Advance Auto Parts' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Advance Auto Parts is more favorable than AutoNation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advance Auto Parts	1 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
AutoNation	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AAP or AN?

Advance Auto Parts received 520 more outperform votes than AutoNation when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.53% of users gave Advance Auto Parts an outperform vote while only 56.10% of users gave AutoNation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Advance Auto Parts	Outperform Votes 911 62.53%	Underperform Votes 546 37.47%
AutoNation	Outperform Votes 391 56.10%	Underperform Votes 306 43.90%

Summary

AutoNation beats Advance Auto Parts on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.