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Lithia Motors (LAD) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Lithia Motors (LAD - Free Report) closed at $306.98 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.91% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.08% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.81%.

Heading into today, shares of the auto dealership chain had gained 7.24% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.47% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.64% in that time.

Lithia Motors will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Lithia Motors is projected to report earnings of $9.94 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 82.05%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.35 billion, up 61.16% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Lithia Motors. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.93% higher within the past month. Lithia Motors is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Lithia Motors is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 8.2. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.64.

Meanwhile, LAD's PEG ratio is currently 0.38. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. LAD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.38 as of yesterday's close.

The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 4, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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