Lithia Motors (LAD) Competitors

Penske Automotive Group (NYSE:PAG) and Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, risk, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and valuation.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in PAG or LAD?

77.1% of Penske Automotive Group shares are held by institutional investors. 51.7% of Penske Automotive Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Lithia Motors shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, PAG or LAD?

Penske Automotive Group has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithia Motors has a beta of 1.48, meaning that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PAG or LAD?

Lithia Motors received 144 more outperform votes than Penske Automotive Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.27% of users gave Lithia Motors an outperform vote while only 60.17% of users gave Penske Automotive Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Penske Automotive Group	Outperform Votes 355 60.17%	Underperform Votes 235 39.83%
Lithia Motors	Outperform Votes 499 66.27%	Underperform Votes 254 33.73%

Does the media refer more to PAG or LAD?

In the previous week, Penske Automotive Group had 8 more articles in the media than Lithia Motors. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Penske Automotive Group and 18 mentions for Lithia Motors. Lithia Motors' average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Penske Automotive Group's score of 0.94 indicating that Lithia Motors is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Penske Automotive Group	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lithia Motors	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PAG or LAD a better dividend stock?

Penske Automotive Group pays an annual dividend of $5.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Lithia Motors pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Penske Automotive Group pays out 35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lithia Motors pays out 6.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Penske Automotive Group has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Lithia Motors has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Is PAG or LAD more profitable?

Penske Automotive Group has a net margin of 3.02% compared to Lithia Motors' net margin of 2.21%. Penske Automotive Group's return on equity of 18.05% beat Lithia Motors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Penske Automotive Group	3.02%	18.05%	5.50%
Lithia Motors	2.21%	12.43%	3.53%

Do analysts prefer PAG or LAD?

Penske Automotive Group presently has a consensus price target of $167.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.39%. Lithia Motors has a consensus price target of $361.20, indicating a potential upside of 17.51%. Given Lithia Motors' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lithia Motors is more favorable than Penske Automotive Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Penske Automotive Group	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Lithia Motors	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, PAG or LAD?

Penske Automotive Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lithia Motors. Lithia Motors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Penske Automotive Group, 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
Penske Automotive Group	$30.61B	0.35	$918.90M	$14.20	11.38
Lithia Motors	$36.80B	0.22	$802M	$31.73	9.69

Summary

Lithia Motors beats Penske Automotive Group on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.