AutoNation (AN) Competitors

CarMax (NYSE:KMX) and AutoNation (NYSE:AN) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, KMX or AN?

AutoNation has higher revenue and earnings than CarMax. AutoNation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CarMax, 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
CarMax	$25.98B	0.40	$479.20M	$3.21	20.87
AutoNation	$26.77B	0.24	$692.20M	$16.94	9.66

Do analysts rate KMX or AN?

CarMax presently has a consensus target price of $87.73, suggesting a potential upside of 30.96%. AutoNation has a consensus target price of $201.86, suggesting a potential upside of 23.37%. Given CarMax's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CarMax is more favorable than AutoNation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CarMax	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
AutoNation	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Is KMX or AN more profitable?

AutoNation has a net margin of 2.59% compared to CarMax's net margin of 1.77%. AutoNation's return on equity of 30.48% beat CarMax's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CarMax	1.77%	7.49%	1.69%
AutoNation	2.59%	30.48%	5.62%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KMX or AN?

CarMax received 326 more outperform votes than AutoNation when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.31% of users gave CarMax an outperform vote while only 55.88% of users gave AutoNation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CarMax	Outperform Votes 711 63.31%	Underperform Votes 412 36.69%
AutoNation	Outperform Votes 385 55.88%	Underperform Votes 304 44.12%

Does the media refer more to KMX or AN?

In the previous week, CarMax had 91 more articles in the media than AutoNation. MarketBeat recorded 108 mentions for CarMax and 17 mentions for AutoNation. AutoNation's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat CarMax's score of 0.42 indicating that AutoNation is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CarMax	35 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	23 Neutral mention(s)	19 Negative mention(s)	5 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
AutoNation	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, KMX or AN?

CarMax has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AutoNation has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of KMX or AN?

94.6% of AutoNation shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of CarMax shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of AutoNation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CarMax beats AutoNation on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.