Lithia Motors (LAD) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AN or LAD?

Lithia Motors received 111 more outperform votes than AutoNation when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.60% of users gave Lithia Motors an outperform vote while only 56.99% of users gave AutoNation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AutoNation	Outperform Votes 363 56.99%	Underperform Votes 274 43.01%
Lithia Motors	Outperform Votes 474 69.60%	Underperform Votes 207 30.40%

Do analysts prefer AN or LAD?

AutoNation presently has a consensus target price of $153.14, indicating a potential upside of 11.53%. Lithia Motors has a consensus target price of $300.56, indicating a potential upside of 24.21%. Given Lithia Motors' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lithia Motors is more favorable than AutoNation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AutoNation	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Lithia Motors	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Which has more volatility & risk, AN or LAD?

AutoNation has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithia Motors has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AN or LAD more profitable?

AutoNation has a net margin of 4.90% compared to Lithia Motors' net margin of 3.99%. AutoNation's return on equity of 61.01% beat Lithia Motors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AutoNation	4.90%	61.01%	13.48%
Lithia Motors	3.99%	22.34%	7.77%

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

86.3% of AutoNation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Lithia Motors shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of AutoNation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Lithia Motors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to AN or LAD?

In the previous week, AutoNation had 3 more articles in the media than Lithia Motors. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for AutoNation and 3 mentions for Lithia Motors. Lithia Motors' average media sentiment score of 0.56 beat AutoNation's score of 0.43 indicating that Lithia Motors is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AutoNation	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Lithia Motors	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation and earnings, AN or LAD?

AutoNation has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lithia Motors. AutoNation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lithia Motors, 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
AutoNation	$26.99 billion	0.23	$1.38 billion	$24.58	5.59
Lithia Motors	$28.23 billion	0.24	$1.25 billion	$40.82	5.93

Summary

Lithia Motors beats AutoNation on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.