Sonic Automotive (SAH) Competitors

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

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

46.9% of Sonic Automotive shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.7% of Sonic Automotive shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Lithia Motors shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SAH or LAD more profitable?

Lithia Motors has a net margin of 2.21% compared to Sonic Automotive's net margin of 1.52%. Sonic Automotive's return on equity of 19.96% beat Lithia Motors' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sonic Automotive	1.52%	19.96%	3.43%
Lithia Motors	2.21%	12.43%	3.53%

Which has better earnings and valuation, SAH or LAD?

Lithia Motors has higher revenue and earnings than Sonic Automotive. Lithia Motors is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sonic Automotive, 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
Sonic Automotive	$14.49B	0.18	$216M	$7.02	10.93
Lithia Motors	$36.80B	0.23	$802M	$31.73	10.36

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SAH or LAD?

Lithia Motors received 233 more outperform votes than Sonic Automotive when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.18% of users gave Lithia Motors an outperform vote while only 53.52% of users gave Sonic Automotive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sonic Automotive	Outperform Votes 266 53.52%	Underperform Votes 231 46.48%
Lithia Motors	Outperform Votes 499 66.18%	Underperform Votes 255 33.82%

Do analysts prefer SAH or LAD?

Sonic Automotive presently has a consensus price target of $70.71, indicating a potential downside of 7.88%. Lithia Motors has a consensus price target of $362.40, indicating a potential upside of 10.25%. Given Lithia Motors' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lithia Motors is more favorable than Sonic Automotive.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonic Automotive	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Lithia Motors	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Is SAH or LAD a better dividend stock?

Sonic Automotive pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Lithia Motors pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Sonic Automotive pays out 19.9% 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. Sonic Automotive has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Lithia Motors has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, SAH or LAD?

Sonic Automotive has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lithia Motors has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to SAH or LAD?

In the previous week, Lithia Motors had 4 more articles in the media than Sonic Automotive. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Lithia Motors and 3 mentions for Sonic Automotive. Lithia Motors' average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Sonic Automotive's score of 0.72 indicating that Lithia Motors is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sonic Automotive	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lithia Motors	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Lithia Motors beats Sonic Automotive on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.