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Lithia Motors (LAD) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Lithia Motors (LAD - Free Report) closed at $319.94 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.58% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.72%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.33%.

Heading into today, shares of the auto dealership chain had gained 10.54% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 9.29% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.24% 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 $10.06 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 70.8%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.39 billion, up 47.04% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $39.66 per share and revenue of $26.23 billion. These totals would mark changes of -0.92% and +14.88%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Lithia Motors should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 5.89% higher. Lithia Motors is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Lithia Motors is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 8.02. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 6.65.

We can also see that LAD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.74. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.42 at yesterday's closing price.

The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, putting it in the top 2% 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.

To follow LAD in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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