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Lithia Motors (LAD) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Lithia Motors (LAD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $293.60, moving -0.37% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.1%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.26%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.1%.

Heading into today, shares of the auto dealership chain had gained 3.9% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 2.28% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 4.4% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Lithia Motors as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Lithia Motors is projected to report earnings of $9.87 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 80.77%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.35 billion, up 61.16% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $38.29 per share and revenue of $22.71 billion, which would represent changes of +110.5% and +73.05%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Lithia Motors should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.2% higher. Lithia Motors is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, Lithia Motors is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 7.7. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.13.

Meanwhile, LAD's PEG ratio is currently 0.37. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. LAD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.37 as of yesterday's close.

The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 16, which puts it in the top 7% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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