LAD vs KMX vs SAH Stock Comparison

Lithia Motors, Carmax and Sonic Automotive Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
LAD Lithia Motors Inc
$288.81 -4.6% 1M -9.3% 1Y
Market cap
$6.49B
P/E
8.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$38.21B
Div. yield
–
Auto Dealerships Consumer Discretionary
4 wins
KMX Carmax Inc
$53.99 -4.4% 1M +21.5% 1Y
Market cap
$7.98B
P/E
27.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$27.63B
Div. yield
–
Auto Dealerships Consumer Discretionary
3 wins
SAH Sonic Automotive Inc
$63.14 +1.2% 1M -1.8% 1Y
Market cap
$2.01B
P/E
9.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$15.47B
Div. yield
-0.02%
Auto Dealerships Consumer Discretionary
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Lithia Motors leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Lithia Motors 4, Sonic Automotive 4, Carmax 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLADKMXSAHLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.49B $7.98B $2.01B KMX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 8.2x 27.3x 9.5x LAD
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 8.5x 17.6x 9.1x LAD
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.6% +4.8% +5.3% SAH
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 2.1% 1.1% 1.4% LAD
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 6.3% 1.1% 18.6% SAH
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 6.0x 20.4x 2.6x SAH
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% -0.02% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -9.3% +21.5% -1.8% KMX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -2.0%/yr -17.0%/yr +5.0%/yr SAH
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 41.3% 54.7% 44.7% LAD
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 43/100 48/100 48/100 KMX

Percentile Scorecard

LADKMXSAH

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisLADKMXSAH
Valuation 54 #48 of 104 67 #35 of 104 52 #50 of 104
Growth 29 #70 of 98 40 #59 of 98 68 #32 of 98
Profitability 38 #60 of 96 35 #63 of 96 57 #42 of 96
Financial Health 23 #85 of 110 21 #87 of 110 19 #89 of 110
Shareholder Returns 70 #22 of 71 77 #17 of 71 41 #42 of 71
Overall 43 48 48
  • LAD ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • KMX ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • SAH ranked among 115 companies in Retail

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodLADKMXSAHSPY
1 month -4.6%-4.4%+1.2% +0.9%
3 months -32.4%-8.7%-44.2% +5.9%
6 months -0.8%+40.8%-13.9% +8.5%
Year to date -13.1%+39.7%+2.1% +13.3%
1 year -9.3%+21.5%-1.8% +12.4%
3 years +21.9%-10.8%+28.5% +88.1%
3 years, per year +6.8%-3.7%+8.7% +23.5%
5 years -9.5%-60.6%+27.7% +68.2%
5 years, per year -2.0%-17.0%+5.0% +11.0%
10 years +238.4%+8.5%+252.7% +263.4%
10 years, per year +13.0%+0.8%+13.4% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureLADKMXSAHSPY
Volatility, 1Y 41.3%54.7%44.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 39.9%65.2%49.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.531.240.76 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.220.39-0.04 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -47.1%-80.1%-47.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -32.4%-15.9%-44.2% -0.9%
52-week high $427.48$64.22$113.07 $779.14
52-week low $243.00$30.88$58.28 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleLADKMXSAH
P/E now vs peer median 8.0xmedian 16.7x 26.2xmedian 16.7x 9.4xmedian 16.7x
P/S now vs peer median 0.2xmedian 0.4x 0.3xmedian 0.4x 0.3xmedian 0.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 9.3xmedian 9.2x 30.4xmedian 9.2x 10.2xmedian 9.2x
P/FCF now vs peer median -14.7xmedian 16.0x 6.7xmedian 16.0x 21.3xmedian 16.0x
P/B now vs peer median 0.9xmedian 1.6x 1.2xmedian 1.6x 5.1xmedian 1.6x
PEG now vs peer median -5.34median 0.73 -2.53median 0.73 0.09median 0.73

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsLADKMXSAH
Revenue $38.21B $27.63B $15.47B
Gross profit $5.79B $2.85B $2.43B
Operating income $1.55B $392.76M $510.20M
Net income $794.40M $292.45M $211.90M
Free cash flow -$426.70M $1.15B $244.50M
EPS (diluted) $35.84 $2.05 $6.60
Cash & equivalents $374.00M $170.53M $19.20M
Total debt $11.75B $15.71B $1.76B
Shares (diluted) 22.00M 142.45M 32.10M
Enterprise value $4.99B $7.35B $1.89B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricLADKMXSAH
P/E 8.0x 26.2x 9.4x
P/FCF -14.7x 6.7x 21.3x
P/Operating cash flow -77.2x 4.8x 30.6x
P/S 0.2x 0.3x 0.3x
P/B 0.9x 1.2x 5.1x
P/Tangible book 1.7x 1.2x 8.8x
EV/EBITDA 9.3x 30.4x 10.2x
EV/EBIT 11.4x 59.1x 13.6x
EV/Revenue 0.5x 0.8x 0.4x
EV/FCF -41.4x 20.2x 28.4x
EV/Operating cash flow -217.3x 14.5x 40.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -5.34 -2.53 0.09

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLADKMXSAH
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.6% 4.8% 5.3%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 8.0% 0.8% 2.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 0.9% -3.6% 6.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 3.8% 1.8% 2.1%
Operating income growth (1Y) -7.2% -23.0% 38.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -3.5% 0.1% 39.1%
Net income growth (1Y) -11.9% -43.9% 34.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -8.7% -13.6% 104.2%
EPS growth (1Y) 0.9% -41.0% 42.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -1.5% -10.3% 110.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -127.5% 32.4% -66.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 33.0% 29.1% 28.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -906.4% 67.3% -65.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 6.8% 53.9% -9.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLADKMXSAH
Gross margin 15.1% 10.3% 15.7%
EBITDA margin 5.0% 2.8% 4.4%
Operating margin 4.0% 1.4% 3.3%
Pretax margin 2.8% 1.6% 2.0%
Net margin 2.1% 1.1% 1.4%
FCF margin -1.1% 4.1% 1.6%
Operating cash flow margin -0.2% 5.8% 1.1%
Return on equity 12.2% 4.7% 31.9%
Return on assets 3.0% 1.1% 5.1%
Return on invested capital 6.3% 1.1% 18.6%
Return on capital employed 8.5% 1.6% 16.0%
Asset turnover 1.4x 1.0x 2.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -0.1x 5.5x 0.8x
Stock comp / revenue 0.1% 0.4% 0.1%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLADKMXSAH
Debt / assets 43.8% 60.3% 27.6%
Debt / equity 1.8x 2.5x 1.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 6.0x 20.4x 2.6x
Debt / FCF -27.5x 13.7x 7.2x
Liabilities / assets 75.3% 75.8% 83.9%
Equity / assets 24.7% 24.2% 16.1%
Interest coverage 7.2x 3.3x –
Current ratio 1.0x 2.3x 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.2x 0.2x 0.1x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.1x 0.0x
Altman Z-score 2.14 1.71 3.62

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLADKMXSAH
Dividend yield 0.8% – 2.5%
Net buyback yield 14.3% 3.4% 0.3%
Shareholder yield 15.1% 3.4% 2.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 22.3%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 19.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – -26.5%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – -17.3%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusLADKMXSAH
Forward P/E 8.5xFY2026 17.6xFY2026 9.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $34.04FY2026 $3.06FY2026 $6.92FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +1.7%FY2026 +5.2%FY2026 +4.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +15.7% +21.2% +1.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $37.52BFY2026 $29.97BFY2026 $14.64BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -0.3%FY2026 +15.8%FY2026 -3.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.1% +0.4% +5.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLADKMXSAH
Held by institutions 100.0% 100.0% 20.6%
Institutions holding 445 557 235
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.2% -2.9% +1.7%
Institutions buying 223 232 122
Institutions selling 160 251 80
Buyers to sellers 1.39 0.92 1.53

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

LADKMXSAH
LAD 1.00 0.42 0.69
KMX 0.42 1.00 0.40
SAH 0.69 0.40 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LAD, KMX and SAH?

Carmax (KMX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Lithia Motors (LAD) $6.49B, Carmax (KMX) $7.98B, Sonic Automotive (SAH) $2.01B.

Which stock is cheaper, LAD, KMX and SAH?

Lithia Motors (LAD) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Lithia Motors (LAD) 8.2x, Carmax (KMX) 27.3x, Sonic Automotive (SAH) 9.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Lithia Motors (LAD) is cheapest (Lithia Motors (LAD) 8.5x, Carmax (KMX) 17.6x, Sonic Automotive (SAH) 9.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Sonic Automotive (SAH) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Lithia Motors (LAD) +1.6%, Carmax (KMX) +4.8%, Sonic Automotive (SAH) +5.3%.

Which company is more profitable?

Lithia Motors (LAD) has the highest net margin (Lithia Motors (LAD) 2.1%, Carmax (KMX) 1.1%, Sonic Automotive (SAH) 1.4%). On return on invested capital, Sonic Automotive (SAH) leads (Lithia Motors (LAD) 6.3%, Carmax (KMX) 1.1%, Sonic Automotive (SAH) 18.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Carmax (KMX) returned the most: Lithia Motors (LAD) -9.3%, Carmax (KMX) +21.5%, Sonic Automotive (SAH) -1.8%. Over five years, Sonic Automotive (SAH) compounded fastest (Lithia Motors (LAD) -2.0%/yr, Carmax (KMX) -17.0%/yr, Sonic Automotive (SAH) +5.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Lithia Motors (LAD) has been the steadiest (Lithia Motors (LAD) 41.3%, Carmax (KMX) 54.7%, Sonic Automotive (SAH) 44.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, LAD, KMX and SAH?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Lithia Motors (LAD) leads on 4. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.